HIV/AIDS Long Term Survivors

 

Today is National HIV/AIDS Long-Term Survivor Awareness Day (NHALTSAD). It is a day to celebrate those who have survived decades of surviving, not just living, with HIV/AIDS. It was on June 5, 1981, that the disease now known as AIDS first appeared in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

National HIV/AIDS Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day is held annually on June 5th on the anniversary of the first published report of what came to be known as AIDS.

 

“[NHALTSAD] is a day to celebrate our survival and begin envisioning the future we never imagined. The first decades of our adulthood were overwhelmingly consumed with illness, death and fear. Now it is up to us to ensure that the next decades are the best they can be. The least we can do is afford survivors the respect they have earned and acknowledge them as elders, teachers and leaders.” -- Tez Anderson is the lead organizer of NHALTSAD (2014)

Research was conducted by Dr. George Solomon and Dr. Lydia Temoshok on how the mind and emotions impact the immune system. The purpose of their study was to understand how "long-term survivors" of HIV are different from people who follow the expected course of HIV disease. Through their research they were able to identify eight characteristics among long-term survivors of HIV.

The eight characteristics are:

1. They are realistic and accept their diagnosis and do not take it as a death sentence.
2. They have a fighting spirit and refuse to be helpless/hopeless.
3. They have changed lifestyles.
4. They are assertive and have the ability to get out of stressful and unproductive situations.
5. They are tuned into their own psychological and physical needs -- and they take care of them.
6. They are able to talk openly about their illness.
7. They have a sense of personal responsibility for their health, and look at the treating health care provider as a collaborator.
8. They are altruistically involved with other persons with HIV.

Long term survivors are now experiencing unique and complicated litany of challenges including, but not limited to, effects of stigma/discrimination/prejudice, depression, isolation, long term side effects of HART, compounded health problems due to long term HIV/AIDS infection, loss of friends or family, etc. So, if you have a Long Term Survivor of H/A in your circle of friends or family, reach out and express support in their continued fight and survival! Or, just support by posting on your social media sites and let the world know your support Long Term Survivors and their struggle!

 

Bryan C. Heitz

Risk Reduction Specialist, CCCofSN