Sarah Bernays

This session brought together four studies with people living with or at acute risk of acquiring HIV, reflecting diverse geographical settings and investigating the specific needs of young people (LGBTQI communities in Zimbabwe and migrants in Uganda) and older people living with HIV (Spain and the USA).

Dr Joni Lariat, University of Sydney, presented participatory research with LGBTQI+ adolescents living with HIV in Zimbabwe. Their complex needs arise from intersectional stigma. Community-based support organisations are well-placed to adapt inclusive approaches for young people to feel ‘seen’ and safe. Ms Nondumiso Dlamini, AHRI, presented qualitative findings from a peer-delivered, community-based HIV prevention intervention for young migrants in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The intervention facilitated access to SRH care and provided contextually situated psychosocial care, mitigating risky behaviours arising from isolation and economic precarity. Ms Thi Vu, Yale University, conducted qualitative research with women living with HIV (WLHIV), aged 50 yrs+, in USA. Being care recipients and caregivers were sources of meaning for older WLHIV. Integrating their care networks within relevant interventions may further support them to manage ageing with HIV. Based on Nestor Nunor’s abstract, Spanish Ministry of Health, we learnt about their study which assessed the health-related quality of life and risk of poverty of Spanish older people living with HIV (PLHIV), (50 yrs +; 187 men and 55 women). Policies need to support improvements in structural and living conditions of older PLHIV and redress the gendered inequality in health-related quality of life facing women.

With accessible HIV treatment and care, the experience or risk of infectivity remains a challenging aspect of an individual’s life, but it inevitably interacts with a constellation of other dynamic situated factors. The variable impact this has on an individual’s well-being and management of their health, including of HIV, is fluid. No one’s circumstances are singular or static. What people need will shift over time as they encounter changing situations over time and place. HIV prevention, care and support must proactively respond to these nuances and develop differentiated care models to ensure that no one gets, or becomes, left behind.