The Forgotten Generation: Public Health, HIV/AIDS, and the Elderly

• In Event: 343 - Section on Medical Sociology Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 02. Aging and Health

Abstract

While new HIV infections are down from their peak in the 1980s and treatment advances have extended the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), the number of new infections among those 50 years of age and older continues to increase. State departments of public health are charged with overseeing HIV/AIDS education and prevention efforts to all Americans, including older adults; however, past work found that very few states had printed materials addressing the needs of this population. Since the prior study, we have seen the proliferation of state departments of public health on the World Wide Web. The current study asks whether efforts targeting the elderly have improved with the advent of public health websites. All fifty state department of public health websites were searched for information on HIV/AIDS, HIV/AIDS stigma, and HIV/AIDS and the elderly. We found little to no improvement in the availability of AIDS education and prevention materials targeting older adults since the prior study. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Author

• Robin D. Moremen, Northern Illinois University