Summary

In South Africa, the number of older adults (age 50+) living with HIV has dramatically increased in the last decade because the rollout of antiretroviral treatment (ART) has been so successful at prolonging lives, and because older South Africans continue to engage in behaviors that put them at risk of contracting the disease. The many older adults with HIV are a public health concern because they are often not perceived as being at-risk for HIV infection, so they do not get tested regularly and thus delay linking to life-saving HIV treatment and care. This research project will use an innovative new data collection method to better understand older South African adults’ HIV testing decisions, particularly the way social, sexual, and health risks combine over time to impact those decisions, so that public health practitioners can identify key access points for HIV testing and develop interventions to expand age-specific linkage to HIV care.