Who are HIV Long-Term Survivors?

Every June 5th we mark HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day (HLTSAD) on the anniversary of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announcement that an unknown infectious disease was rapidly and painfully killing young gay men on June 5, 1981. That disease was later discovered to be HIV.

HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day (HLTSAD) is an opportunity to celebrate the resilience of those living with HIV, recognize the contributions they have made to their communities and encourage a national dialogue on effective ways to address the health and social crises facing vulnerable, older adults with HIV.

Who Are HIV Long-Term Survivors (HLTS)?

• Pre-HAART LTS — Are longest-term survivors are individuals who acquired HIV in the 1980s and 1990s, before the advent of highly effective antiretroviral therapy (pre-HAART) when having HIV was considered a death sentence.
• Perinatal HIV LTS — Individuals born with HIV or who acquired the virus as babies who are no in their twenties and thirties.
• Post-HAART LTS — those who tested past 1996 and living with HIV for over ten years.
• HIV-Negative LTS — There are long-term survivors of a different stripe. They are the survivors who remain HIV-negative. They were lovers, caretakers, and frontline healthcare workers. They were lesbians who stepped in to take care of people with HIV and AIDS. They too suffered enormous losses.HLTSAD is sponsored by Let’s Kick ASS—AIDS Survivor Syndrome.