People With HIV Are Being Impacted by Climate Change

How does climate change impact people with HIV, you might ask?

Well, the most obvious impact is the loss of access to life-saving medicine when disaster strikes. But a less obvious one is that poor and marginalized people are more at-risk for contracting HIV and often live in areas that are more strongly impacted by natural disasters.

According to a report from the Center for American Progress (CAP), half of the people who have HIV in the U.S. live in places that are vulnerable to extreme weather and climate disasters.

The analysis used data from Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) which is a federal program that aims to reduce the rate of new HIV infections. They also used data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) national risk index which records the frequency of disasters across the country and takes into account the vulnerability of at-risk demographics among the U.S. population. 

Professor of global health at the University of Washington Kristie Ebi did a review of the analysis and says, “It is not surprising that those most at-risk live in areas particularly vulnerable to extreme weather and climate events. That is true  for many other climate-sensitive health outcomes. The poor and marginalized are generally at higher risk and often live in less desirable locations that are less desirable because of vulnerability to extreme weather and climate events.”

According to the report, 50 different counties, including Washington D.C. and San Juan, Puerto Rico, have been specified as “high-priority” areas because more than 50% of new HIV cases occur there. On average their national risk index score was 96.8 out of 100 which is astounding. 

Climate change only exacerbates the issue since it makes natural disasters wilder and a lot more damaging.

Ebi says, “We’re seeing extreme weather and climate events that are quite far outside of historic experience,” In acknowledgement of the flooding in Asheville, NC as a recent example.

Clinics needing to close during storms, power going out preventing patients from calling in their lost or run out prescriptions, and pharmacies hesitating to refill prescriptions they aren’t sure patients will come to pick up, among other factors such as the stigma people face from being outed as someone with HIV, are some of the issues that increase the likelihood of HIV spreading or progressing to AIDS in already diagnosed people.

Try your hardest to take your medication consistently to keep yourself and others safe from the virus. It’s easier said than done, but risking it is fatal.

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