The audience this time consists of residents and staff of the Sirovich Senior Center of the Educational Alliance, located on Manhattan's Lower East Side. And it's true that most PWAs are young. In New York City, the number of newly diagnosed people who fall within that age group may be closer to 15 percent. It's not just with regard to prevention that over-50s are left behind. Older people with HIV are often misdiagnosed and typically learn that they have the virus only later in the disease process.
Medical treatment is more difficult, both because of the later diagnosis and factors related to age.
Few practitioners are expert both in HIV and the health problems associated with aging. When it comes to social support services aimed at their particular needs, older PWAs are all but invisible. Unfortunately, older adults refuse to conform to the stereotypes. On colorful posters and television spots, attractive, energetic young people testify to the coolness of condom use. Outreach workers go where kids and young adults congregate to warn about the dangers of unprotected sex and sharing needles.