By 2030, up to 70 percent of people with HIV will be older than 50. This aging population faces unique health challenges. To help local, state and national organizations meet those needs, Gilead Sciences launched the “HIV Age Positively” initiative. Specifically, the pharmaceutical giant is providing a total of $17.6 million in grants to 30 groups in the United States with ties to older folks living with HIV.

According to a Gilead press release, the initiative aims to help people aging with HIV in three ways:

  • improve care coordination
  • increase resources for better well-being
  • educate and inform policies that impact people living and aging with HIV.

“Funding from HIV Age Positively is going to help long-term survivors combat loneliness, obtain access to the resources and support they need and create better, more personalized health care,” said Kelsey Louie, CEO of Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) in New York City, one of the grantees, in the press release. “Everyone deserves to live a long and healthy life, and this program is going to help make that possible for countless people living and aging with HIV.”

Louie continued: “As they have in the past, Gilead brought experts together, listened to what our community needed and identified the organizations best equipped to tackle specific problems.”

By 2030, Gilead points out, more than 80 percent of people with HIV will have at least one age-related medical condition, such as heart disease or cancer. For more about this topic in POZ, click #Aging.

You can learn more about the initiative on Gilead.com.

The grantees are as follows:

  • Abounding Prosperity—Dallas, TX
  • The AIDS Institute, Inc.—Nationwide
  • AIDS Project—New Haven, CT
  • American Indian Community House, Inc.—Nationwide
  • APLA Health & Wellness—California statewide
  • The Association of Nurses in AIDS Care—Nationwide
  • Borrego Community Health Foundation—Southern California
  • Cascade AIDS Project—Oregon and Southwest Washington
  • Center for Health Justice, Inc.—Los Angeles, CA
  • Community Healthcare Network, Inc.—New York, NY
  • Family Health Centers of San Diego, Inc.—San Diego, CA
  • Gay Men’s Health Crisis—Nationwide
  • HealthHIV—Nationwide
  • Hektoen Institute for Medical Research—Chicago, IL
  • Legal Aid Service of Broward County, Inc.—Broward County, FL
  • Montefiore Medical Center—New York, NY
  • My Brother’s Keeper—Mississippi (Statewide)
  • New Orleans Advocates for GLBT Elders (NOAGE)—New Orleans, LA
  • Professional Association of Social Workers in HIV & AIDS—Nationwide
  • Project Open Hand—San Francisco, CA
  • Regents of the University of California at San Diego—San Diego, CA
  • SAG—Nationwide
  • San Francisco AIDS Foundation—San Francisco, CA
  • Shanti Project, Inc.—San Francisco, CA
  • Thrive SS, Inc.—Nationwide
  • Test Positive Awareness Network, Inc.—Chicago, IL
  • University of California, San Francisco—San Francisco, CA
  • University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation Inc.—Baltimore, MD
  • Us Helping Us—People Into Living, Inc.—Washington, DC
  • Washington Hospital Center Corporation—Washington, DC