HIV after 40 in Rural South Africa: Routes of HIV Acquisition and Transmission among Middle Aged and Older Adults

Sanyu A. Mojola, University of Colorado at Boulder
Jill Williams, University of Colorado at Boulder
Nicole Angotti, University of Colorado at Boulder

South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV (5.3 million) as well as a rapidly aging population with 15% of the population aged 50 and over (Statistics South Africa 2009). In Agincourt, South Africa, a third of those in their 40s, a quarter of women and a third of men in their 50s, 10% of adults in their 60s, and over 5% of those in their 70s were HIV positive (Gomez-Olive et al 2013). These findings reflect not just aging with HIV, but also non negligible acquisition of HIV at older ages. Using a life course approach, this paper combines HIV prevalence survey data, 60 nested life history interviews, 9 focus group and 9 key informant interviews to examine routes of HIV acquisition/ transmission among adults aged between 40-80. Specifically, we examine how and why adults over 40 are getting HIV.