ACRIA Holds Open House for Natl. HIV Aging Awareness Day

In 2015, over half of the population with HIV is over 50. ACRIA, an international authority on the emerging issue of older adults and HIV and leading research institute on issues relating to the Greying of the Epidemic, will hold an open house on September 17 at their New York office to discuss and share information about the needs of older adults.

A panel of older Americans with HIV will be at the event to highlight the challenges of aging with the disease, as well as experts who will discuss the rapidly increasing number of older adults living with HIV/AIDS and the challenges of accelerated aging.

"As of January 2015, 50 percent of Americans with HIV are at least 50 years of age, a proportion that will rise to 70 percent by 2020," said Benjamin Bashein, Executive Director of ACRIA. "This is a remarkable shift from just 30 years ago when HIV/AIDS was considered a 'death sentence' and also points to the need for more prevention education targeting older people who are at risk."

In addition to the panel of people living with HIV/AIDS, several agencies with programs that target older adults will provide information about and resources for the growing population of those aging with HIV/AIDS. A box lunch will be served at 11 a.m.

Through research, education and advocacy, ACRIA improves lives and transforms communities to achieve a world without HIV. ACRIA envisions a world where all people with HIV receive the treatment, care, and support they need to lead healthy, productive lives and where new transmissions of the virus have been eliminated. Founded in 1991 in response to the slow pace of government and academic research on HIV, ACRIA brought a first-ever activist, community-based approach to the study of new treatments for HIV through its Robert Mapplethorpe Clinical Trials Program.

ACRIA was also among the first organizations to recognize that the success of medications would lead to an aging HIV-positive population and thereby present new, unique challenges for them and their caregivers. ACRIA established its Applied and Translational Research Program to begin addressing the fact that little was known, or was being asked, about this burgeoning population.

First among the program's accomplishments was its 2005 groundbreaking Research on Older Adults with HIV (ROAH) study, a nearly 1,000-person cohort in New York City conducted on older adults with HIV. This study was widely heralded in the mainstream media across the globe, and has influenced how HIV, aging, and other service providers approach their work with older clients.

ACRIA also offers critical HIV-related training and capacity building services to health and human services professionals, as well as to those with and at risk for HIV through its Training Center.

The event will be held from 12-2 p.m. on September 17 at ACRIA's offices, 575 Eighth Avenue, Suite 502, New York, New York �10018. To RSVP please contact [email protected]