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More Elderly People Contracting AIDS
By Vimita Monadas, Channelnewsasia
November 29, 2010
Singapore
The
number of people above 50 years old diagnosed with AIDS has doubled in
five years to 142 in 2009.
The
number of people above 50 years old diagnosed with AIDS has doubled in
five years to 142 last year, said the Health Ministry.
The highest number of AIDS cases were between 30 and 49 years old but
there has been a rising trend among seniors aged 50 and above contracting
the disease.
In 2004, about 25 per cent of those infected with HIV/AIDS were in that
age group.
Last year, the figure rose to 31 per cent.
Most were infected through sex.
Associate Professor Leo Yee Sin, Clinical Director, Communicable Disease
Centre,
Tan
Tock
Seng
Hospital
, said: "For the elderly individuals, the risk perception to sexually
transmitted disease may be much lower than the younger individuals. They
may think that because they are older, they have less risk to
STD
. but that's not true. As long as they engage in high risk activities,
they continue to put themselves at risk
She added that treatment is also more complicated because seniors are
likely to also suffer from chronic illnesses such as diabetes or high
blood pressure.
Older people may also be grappling with problems that push some of them
towards at-risk behaviour, said the Action For AIDS.
Aaron Ng, Executive Director, Action for AIDS, said: "More older
persons are seeking companionship and sexual fulfillment outside of
marriage due to various reasons such as financially more relaxed, children
growing up, wives going through menopause, maybe sexually less active,
loneliness due to children growing up having their own lives."
In June 2010, treatment for AIDS was made more affordable with a drop in
the price of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for AIDS sufferers.
The cost of first line ARV drugs at the Communicable Disease Centre,
Tan
Tock
Seng
Hospital
dropped three-fold to S$200 compared to S$1000 last year.
The prices of second line combination of ARV drugs decreased from S$1,500
to about S$600.
This enabled more patients to use their Medisave to pay for their drug
regimen.
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