25th International AIDS Conference
“Thriving with HIV at 50 and beyond” - Opening remarks by Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe.
21 July 2024
Dr Beatriz Grinsztejn,
Dear colleagues,
Guten morgen, good morning, and thank you to the Industry Liaison Forum [ILF] for convening this crucial discussion.
Some 40 years ago, when the AIDS pandemic began, we never could have imagined the scale and pace of the medical progress ahead of us.
I remember working as a young doctor and meeting patients with HIV/AIDS, who simply did not know if they would survive the next day.
Many of them didn’t; others were luckier.
And all of them lived with the fear of the unknown. The deep pain of seeing many around them die.
Ageing with HIV, at that time, was not part of the discussion.
The landscape of people living with HIV has changed dramatically since those early days.
Around 3 quarters of people living with HIV are now able to access antiretroviral treatment, giving them a similar life expectancy to people who don’t have HIV.
But we are far from over the finish line.
In just 6 years, approximately 1 third of people with HIV around the globe will be aged 50 or above.
Today, in the WHO European Region, we are facing what we call a mature epidemic.
New diagnoses in the over 50s now stand at double the rate of those in the 15–24 age group.
Yet older people living with HIV endure a long catalogue of challenges: a potentially accelerated ageing process; premature cognitive and physical impairment; increased frailty; and – not least – persistent ageism, stigma and discrimination, often excluding them from the care they urgently need.
Dear colleagues,
There is a path towards dignity and health for older people living with HIV.
First, concrete steps to support them must be part and parcel of all countries’ ageing strategies – complementing the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing.
ILF’s initiative to launch a consortium dedicated to HIV and ageing is a much-needed step.
Second, we must work towards eliminating the heavily corrosive impacts of stigma and ageism – by normalizing HIV and STI testing, by implementing age-appropriate services, by fighting the myths that perpetuate prejudice.
And third, we need to empower all people with living with HIV – younger or older – to meaningfully contribute to the health policies that directly affect them.
In the coming months, I am proud to say that the team at WHO/Europe will be developing a regional framework on healthy ageing and long-term care.
My colleagues at headquarters are also producing guidance targeted specifically at dealing with ageing in people living with HIV.
Dear friends,
I’d like to end with the story of John, a 69-year-old man from the United Kingdom who was diagnosed with HIV, at the age of 46. At the time, he thought he had 15 years at most to live.
But, 23 years on, he is fitter than ever, working out every day.
“I’m fit, healthy, and ageing seems like a fantastic prospect,” he said.
We have the tools, the diagnostics, the medicines. We need to strengthen the political will.
My good friend Dr Peter Piot, the former director of UNAIDS, once said, “Investment in AIDS will be repaid a thousand-fold in lives saved and communities held together”.
Let’s centre our ambitions on dignity and health for all, doing everything we can to ensure every older person with HIV is not just living longer, but thriving. And that every younger person living with HIV today can look forward to a healthy, fulfilling old age – in societies that truly nurture and care.
Thank you.