Barriers and Facilitators to ART Access Among Older South Africans Living with HIV

• In Event: 1476 - Biomedical Anxieties: AIDS Risk, Discrimination, and Healthcare Access

Abstract

South Africa has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world, and with the rollout of antiretroviral treatment (ART) beginning in 2003, the number of infected individuals in older ages is increasing. Yet, little is known, particularly from urban areas, about how aging might influence the experience of ART access and adherence. Using qualitative in-depth interviews with 16 older persons (age 50+) living in two urban communities on the outskirts of Cape Town, and several key informant interviews with health care workers, we outline the affordability, availability and accessibility of ART, highlighting the barriers that older persons experience differently or more strongly than younger populations. Efforts for universal access to ART must acknowledge and address these unique barriers, particularly as the population living with HIV ages.

Authors

• Enid J. Schatz, University of Missouri

• Ferdinand Mukumbang, University of Western Cape, South Africa

• Lucia Knight, University of Western Cape, South Africa