Aging with HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review

Older adults in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are projected to increase 4-fold from 46 million to 165 million by 2050. Despite this fact, global health policies and programs typically neglect this particular demographic. This is illustrated by the fact that policies and programs directed towards human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) in SSA commonly overlook older adults managing HIV/AIDS, despite this demographic being projected to increase 190% by 2040. To support evidence-informed policy and practice, this scoping review synthesizes peer-reviewed articles focusing on older adults (50-plus years) managing HIV/AIDS in SSA. A systematic search of peer-reviewed articles written in English between 2000 and 2024 resulted in a total of 48,961 articles, of which 42 met the inclusion criteria. Results revealed four primary themes: knowledge of HIV/AIDS, challenges in healthcare settings (such as ageist assumptions from healthcare providers), barriers to HIV/AIDS-related care (including transportation barriers), and experiences of those managing HIV/AIDS (such as difficulties with status disclosure). Findings underscore that to improve the health and wellbeing of older populations living with HIV/AIDS in SSA, policies and programs should address ageism and discrimination in healthcare settings and address financial insecurities.