A new long-term study in South Africa has found that increased access to effective HIV treatment is boosting life expectancy—but among women more than men.
The study, published November 24, 2015 in PLOS Medicine, looked at nearly 100,000 adults living in rural KwaZulu-Natal, where 29% of the population is HIV-positive, tracking deaths between 2001 and 2011. The researchers, including senior author Till Bärnighausen, associate professor of global health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, found that, between 2003 and 2011, female adult life expectancy increased by 13.2 years (from 51.3 to 64.5 years), whereas male life expectancy increased by only 9 years (from 46.9 years to 55.9 years)—meaning that the gap between female and male adult life expectancy doubled in this time frame. The researchers also found that, although HIV-related mortality among women and men was similar in 2003, in 2011 women were 27% less likely to die from HIV than men. In 2011, 55% of all male HIV-related deaths and 40% of all female HIV-related deaths were among men and women who had never sought treatment for HIV.
The findings show that men aren’t seeking care for HIV as much as women are, and highlight the need to learn more about why this is so, as well as the need to develop ways to increase HIV treatment among men.
Read a Voice of America article about the study: Women Fare Better in S. Africa HIV/AIDS Treatment Study