Thursday, September 18, marks National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day 2025 (#HIVandAging and #NHAAD). Thanks to advances in HIV treatment, people diagnosed with HIV who take their meds regularly enjoying longer and healthier lives, but they also face unique challenges.

 

National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day focuses on the issues faced by the aging population, including HIV prevention, testing, care and treatment.  

 

This year’s theme, “Protect Our Aging Populations: Meeting New Challenges to Live Longer and Improve Lives!,” highlights the need for increased prevention, research and data targeting the aging community, medical understanding of the aging process and its impact of HIV and AIDS.

 

Indeed, more than half of people diagnosed with HIV in the United States are age 50 or older. Some were diagnosed at a young age—or even born with HIV—while others acquired HIV later in life.

 

To spotlight this growing population and its unique needs, The AIDS Institute launched National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day in 2008. 

 

Living with HIV presents certain challenges at any age. But older people with HIV may face different issues than their younger counterparts, including greater social isolation, loneliness and stigma, which may prevent them from disclosing their HIV status or seeking the care or services they may need.

What’s more, because HIV affects the immune system differently as people age, these groups often face comorbidities—other age-related chronic conditions—such as cardiovascular disease, lung disease and obesity.

 

NHAAD highlights the importance of regular medical checkups, healthy lifestyle choices and building a support system.

 

To find sharable campaigns, information about webinars and other related events, search the hashtags #NHAAD and #HIVandAging.

 

To read more, click #Aging. There, you’ll see headlines such as “Centering Aging With HIV,” “Aging With Power” and “USCHA Day One: Scenes From the 2025 U.S. Conference on HIV/AIDS,” the theme of which was “Aging With HIV.”

Click here to learn more about 2025 HIV and AIDS awareness days, and click here for a printable poster.

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