BRAZIL: AIDS INFECTION IN OLDER PEOPLE

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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Portuguese/Nat The Brazilian government is facing a disturbing change in the demographics of AIDS victims. An estimated half a (m) million Brazilians have been identified as H-I-V carriers, but the fastest growing group of people with H-I-V is men over 55. It's a new dynamic to the disease which has touched so many in this country. And often the disease is not diagnosed in geriatric wards. So it's not only the old people who need re-educating about their sex life, but doctors and nurses about their professional approach to these patients. The Gafree-Guinle Hospital in Rio de Janeiro sees 1-thousand 300 people with AIDS every day. Five percent of them are pensioners. The United Nations Programme for AIDS says 540-thousand people are infected in Brazil. Since 1997, cases amongst pensioners have been on the increase. A number of factors have contributed. Old-aged men do not want to use condoms. Pensioners tend to think AIDS is a disease exclusive to the young. Thirty percent of the old-aged people who come to hospital with AIDS are already in the advanced stage of the disease, with no possibilities of any kind of treatment. This 70 year-old man was diagnosed too late. He now has an advanced pneumonia, liver and neurological infections. He has only a few days left to live. Doctor Rogerio Neves Motta has been working AIDS patients for the last 10 years. He says that doctors themselves rarely think to test for AIDS. SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese) "There is a prejudice, that also comes from within the medical profession, such as Doctors and Surgeons and Nurses, that a person with a advanced age, for instance, a man with 65 years-old that is ill, that he couldn't have AIDS." SUPERCAPTION: Rogerio Neves Motta, AIDS Specialist Another reason is the advent of Viagra and the subsequent increase in sexual activity amongst the elderly. SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese) A: The Brazilians have this tendency of having their sex life more active than others. So, if a person has a very active sexual life during their youth, when this person gets old, this activity is continued. We have to stress that nowadays we have some stimulants, such as the Viagra or other medicines that increase the sexual performance of the old-aged people. This, without a doubt, increased the number of sexual relations that people have during a year. SUPERCAPTION: Rogerio Neves Motta, AIDS Specialist The "University of the old-aged" has set up a program to educate the older generation. Some 2-thousand pensioners take part in small weekly seminars to discuss their sexuality and learn how to prevent the disease. Doctor Arnaldo Risman runs an Institute of Sexology. Here, at the "University of the old-aged", he works with all social classes, teaching people about sex in old age and how to prevent STDs. Risman says the old-aged tend to react like teenagers, when it comes to sexuality. SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese) "The difficulties for these aged people are similar to the difficulties of a teenager. Teenagers know everything. If you ask a teenager if he wants to learn about sexuality, he will say that he knows everything. The aged also have the same answer. He has already done that, he has already had sex, he may be widowed or married for many years, so, what does he have to learn? What more does he have to learn? To tell the truth, the prejudice is within society." SUPERCAPTION: Arnaldo Risman, Co-Ordenator of "University of the old-age" Pensioners here learn how to use a condom for intercourse and during oral sex. For them, it is never too late to learn about sex. SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese) SUPERCAPTION: Alberto Mario Canepa, 80 years-old pensioner SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese) You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/7eadbcbd937b4eec54fcaa31c68d6e09 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork