positive outlook

Phumzile, age 52 / Johannesburg, South Africa

June 5, 2018 by admin

We need to remember that HIV is a justice issue. If we don’t deal with the structural injustices, people will continue being vulnerable to HIV and AIDS. The religious community has a responsibility to spread positive messages and if we still have negative messages within our religious contexts, I believe that those messages […]

Categories: Africa, Age 50-54, Female • Tags: advocacy, anger, arthritis, body image, caregiving, Caring for Older Adults, children/parenthood, dating, death/dying, depression, diabetes, dignity/respect, doctor/patient relationship, employment/retirement, exercise/fitness, faith/spirituality, family, finances, helping others, HIV/AIDS education, human rights, intergenerational, justice, life experience/age as an asset, married/life partner(s), menopause, positive outlook, pre/post-test counseling, sex/sexuality, side effects, South Africa, stigma, stress, support, treatement access, weight, Women & Girls

Ron, age 50 / District of Columbia, USA

December 2, 2017 by admin

I was a closeted gay man working in international development. I had been a Peace Corps volunteer and was going to school for public health, but taking short contracts to pay for school. I was living and working in Mali, in West Africa. This was the year 1994. I needed to have […]

Categories: Age 50-54, Male, North America • Tags: ACTIVISM, advocacy, clinical trials, co-morbidities, death/dying, employment/retirement, faith/spirituality, family, finances, gratitude, grief/loss, Healthcare access, intergenerational, Kaposi sarcoma, long-range thinking, long-term survivors, Mali, meditation, NGOs, opportunistic infections, positive outlook, pre/post-test counseling, privilege, stigma, support, treatment access, United States, working in HIV/AIDS community

Susan, age 54 / New York, USA

June 19, 2017 by admin

I guess I don’t even think about it too much anymore. In the first few years? Like, almost 24/7, it was something that was on my mind: am I gonna be around for my kids? I didn’t even think about grandkids at that time. And I always worried that my daughter would […]

Categories: Age 50-54, Female, North America • Tags: advocacy, anger, cancer, caregiving, CD4 count, children/parenthood, death/dying, disclosure, employment/retirement, family, grandchildren, helping others, HIV/AIDS education, intergenerational, isolation, life experience/age as an asset, married/life partner(s), mother-to-child transmission, nutrition, positive outlook, stress, stroke, support, United States, Women & Girls, working in HIV/AIDS community

Rick, age 60 / Pretoria, South Africa

June 8, 2017 by admin

Originally I was from Scotland. I’ve been in South Africa now for 36 years. I think I befriended my little virus in South Africa – that’s 30 years ago. AIDS in South Africa in that time was very different to what it is now. It was bad. I worked with an organization who […]

Categories: Africa, Age 60-64, Europe, Male • Tags: ACTIVISM, advocacy, cancer, caregiving, coping, dating, death/dying, disclosure, employment/retirement, family, grief/loss, married/life partner, opportunistic infections, PCP, positive outlook, Scotland, South Africa, support groups, thrombosis/blood clot, weight, working in HIV/AIDS community

Ron, age 66/ District of Columbia, USA

December 1, 2016 by admin

I was suicidal when I was thirteen. Because I was gay, or “sissy” as they used to say in those days. I was actually planning how I was gonna do it, and I heard this voice in my head that said, “Don’t do it. Wait ‘til you get older. Things will be different.” I was […]

Categories: Age 65-69, Male, North America • Tags: alternative medicine, AZT/pre-"cocktail" medications, cancer, faith/spirituality, meditation, nutrition, positive outlook, suicide, support groups, thrombosis/blood clot, treatment access, United States

Betti, age 51 / Abidjan, Ivory Coast

July 14, 2016 by admin

I discovered my status after I gave birth, in 1997. I was sick and I went to see a doctor at the hospital. I asked for a checkup and they told me that I had HIV. The child was breastfed, and I didn’t know, so she got contaminated. It was already difficult for me to […]

Categories: Africa, Age 50-54, Female • Tags: children/parenthood, cost of treatment, denial, family, fatigue, grief/loss, Ivory Coast, libido, married/life partner(s), menopause, mother-to-child transmission, NGOs, positive outlook, sex/sexuality, stress, support, treatment access

Bev, age 63 / Gunditjmara Nation, Wangaratta, Australia

December 1, 2014 by admin

I don’t feel OLD old, ‘cause I’m still feeling young, because I’m still here, you know. I feel really grateful that I don’t ponder on, oh, you know, I’m turning into this old woman or anything. I used to be offended when, say 10 years ago, when people would stand up for me in the […]

Categories: Age 60-64, Asia-Pacific, Female • Tags: Aboriginal/Indigenous/First Nations, Australia, children/parenthood, grandchildren, gratitude, life experience/age as an asset, positive outlook

Hazel, age 54 / San Francisco, CA, USA

November 30, 2014 by admin

Getting older is like, um… Things are happening with my body that I don’t like. You know, my mind is still 25– my mind wants to be 25, my body is not. You know I wanna, like, run around with my 15 year old step son, and I can’t. For me, getting older with HIV […]

Categories: Age 50-54, Female, North America • Tags: caregiving, children/parenthood, married/life partner(s), positive outlook, United States

The Graying of AIDS

Stories From An Aging Pandemic

image Archives