Nationwide Age Positively effort will help older people with HIV with age-related challenges
Through the Gilead HIV Age Positively initiative, Gilead Sciences, Inc. is granting $17.6 million to 30 U.S. organizations that will use the funds to improve the lives of people who are aging with HIV.
The program focuses on three priority areas:
- improving care coordination
- increasing resources for better well-being
- educating and informing policies that impact people living and aging with HIV
By some estimates, more than 80 percent of people living with HIV will face at least one age-related medical condition by 2030 which has risen significantly from 29 percent in 2010.
The HIV Age Positively grant recipients include a variety of longtime advocacy organizations well-equipped to provide people living in their community’s life-saving services. Newer organizations are also joining the effort to help fortify care and other needed services. Gilead says each grantee was selected for their unique ability to articulate interventions that have the potential to transform the quality of life for people aging with HIV.
“Anyone who lived through the 1980s and ‘90s remembers the generation of Americans we lost to the HIV epidemic and the heroic work this community has done together to increase the life expectancy of people living with HIV,” said Kelsey Louie, Chief Executive Officer, Gay Men’s Health Crisis. “As they have in the past, Gilead brought experts together, listened to what our community needed and identified the organizations best equipped to tackle specific problems. Funding from HIV Age Positively is going to help long-term survivors combat loneliness, obtain access to the resources and support they need and create better, more personalized healthcare.”
Aging people living with HIV face a unique set of challenges, and healthcare providers and the broader community of allies need additional resources to meet their needs. As part of the HIV Age Positively effort, Gilead convened an advisory board of experts with deep insights into the subject of aging with HIV.
The advisory board members included healthcare providers, researchers and community advocates from AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), Test Positive Awareness Network (TPAN), the University of Pittsburgh, Boston University, ACRIA, University of California, San Diego, HTW Campaign, SAGE and the HIV Vaccine Trials Network. This group determined that addressing the interrelated challenges within our healthcare system and the general HIV community, like stigma, loneliness and better coordination of care, is essential in reaching a viable solution to these challenges.
Visit Gilead for the release and list of national recipient grantees.
