HIV After 40 in Rural South Africa: A Life Course Approach to HIV Vulnerability among Middle Aged & Older Adults

South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV in the world (over 6 million) as well as a rapidly aging population, with 15% of the population aged 50 and over. High HIV prevalence in rural former apartheid homeland areas suggests substantial aging with HIV and acquisition of HIV at older ages. 

We develop a life course approach to HIV vulnerability, highlighting the rise and fall of risk and protection as people age, as well as the role of contextual density in shaping HIV vulnerability. Using this approach, we draw on an innovative multi-method data set collected within the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System in South Africa, combining survey data with 60 nested life history interviews and 9 community focus group interviews. 

We examine HIV risk and protective factors among adults aged 40-80, as well as how and why these factors vary among people at older ages.

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By: Mojola SA1, Williams J2, Angotti N3, Gómez-Olivé FX4.

• 1Department of Sociology, University of Colorado Boulder, USA; Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado Boulder, USA
• 2Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado Boulder, USA; MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
• 3Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado Boulder, USA; MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; Department of Sociology and Center on Health, Risk and Society, American University, USA.
• 4MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

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