Enid Schatz
Enid Schatz
My research brings a gendered lens to examining the social and structural impacts of HIV on older persons’ physical health and social wellbeing in South Africa and Uganda. South Africa has high HIV prevalence (about 30%), but also a strong set of social welfare programs, which older persons can access. Uganda has a lower overall HIV prevalence rate (about 7%), but also fewer social welfare programs. Thus, it is important to understand the ways that casework for others, the loss of carers, and household dynamics in the context of poverty, migration, and the HIV epidemic affect older persons health and wellbeing. Much of my work focused on the impact of HIV on older persons, their roles and responsibilities in households affected by HIV, and the ways that social welfare mediated their health and other needs. More recently, my work has begun to focus on the fact that the aging of African populations and roll out of antiretroviral treatment (ART) for HIV has meant an increasing number of people aging with HIV, as well as larger numbers of those being infected at older ages. The health needs of these populations are significant; the UNAIDS 2014 Gap Report singled out older adults as a population that has been “left behind”, and who will require more attention if HIV response goals are to be met. My projects in Uganda and South Africa are among the first to focus explicitly on the barriers for older persons to ART access and adherence. As a result of this work, my colleagues and I plan to develop interventions to improve older persons ART access and adherence, as well as their overall health and wellbeing.
