{"id":80332,"date":"2025-12-01T07:48:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T07:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/hiv-warning-as-cases-in-older-women-increase\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T07:48:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T07:48:00","slug":"hiv-warning-as-cases-in-older-women-increase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=80332","title":{"rendered":"HIV warning as cases in older women increase"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Women aged in their 50s and 60s have been urged to practise safe sex after a rise in new cases of HIV in heterosexual groups.<\/p>\n

As World Aids Day is marked, campaigners say women in this age group could be at greater risk of catching the virus because some are not using condoms.<\/p>\n

Blue Sky Trust, a sexual health charity working across north-east England and Cumbria, says it is seeing increasing numbers of older women coming forward for support, while a parliamentary committee noted a rise in women across all age groups being infected through sex with men.<\/p>\n

Trust members have also been taking to social media to tackle misinformation and raise awareness about living safely with HIV.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A recent report from the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee described the increase in the number of heterosexual women of all ages contracting the disease as “alarming”.<\/p>\n

The committee said, compared with 2019, new diagnoses in 2024 were 26% higher in women exposed through sex with men.<\/p>\n

It recommended the “expansion of the opt-out testing programme” at facilities such as women’s health hubs, as well as “locally-led campaigns” targeting at-risk groups which also included “Black African and Asian communities”.<\/p>\n

Julieanne Mitchell, from Blue Sky Trust, said women who are perimenopausal or menopausal are another at risk group because they “think they can’t get pregnant” and have unprotected sex. <\/p>\n

She urged them to think about sexually transmitted diseases and infections, including HIV, and to use condoms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Treatments for HIV mean those with the virus can lead a healthy, normal life, unlike in the 1980s and 90s when contracting it was often fatal. <\/p>\n

Drugs suppress the virus and prevent it being passed on in what is known as U=U, meaning undetectable = untransmissible.<\/p>\n

But the Blue Sky Trust said the stigma around the disease persists and it has heard of cases where people think HIV can be picked up from sharing cutlery or a toilet seat. <\/p>\n

In reality, it is usually passed on through unprotected sex.<\/p>\n

Nigel Bullock, a member of the Newcastle-based trust, has been posting on social media to counter misinformation about the virus and said he was happily surprised by the response. <\/p>\n

“I sat and did a great big post at eight o’clock on a Saturday night and posted all over Facebook, all over Instagram. <\/p>\n

“I thought I’ll check them tomorrow morning and then deal with whatever comes back. <\/p>\n

“To my amazement, there was no hate, there was no negative, there was nobody saying anything that made me feel awful. <\/p>\n

“It was just really positive, people learning, people asking questions.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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