Positive Thoughts – The Hidden Survivors: Why people living and aging with HIV will lead the way

Long-term survivors of HIV face unique challenges – they are the "hidden" survivors of the epidemic. When I was diagnosed with HIV in 1989, I wasn’t sure I’d be here in 2018 to talk about it. At the time there was no effective treatment for people living with HIV; it was basically a death sentence. For those of us who did have access to health care and treatment, we were given what we now know is suboptimal therapy that not only rendered us resistant to more effective medications that were being developed, but also had life-altering side effects that remain with some of us to this day. These side effects from those earlier, more toxic treatments have added to the stigma of aging with HIV and have disfigured us...