A swift water rescue team down a street covered by floodwaters caused by rain from Hurricane Matthew in Lumberton, N.C.
Access to HIV treatment and medication is adversely affected by climate change, a new report finds.
Half of people living with HIV in the United States reside in areas disproportionately vulnerable to climate disasters, including hurricanes, floods, and wildfires, according to analysis by the Center for American Progress.
Related:
The report compared data from the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) program, a federal initiative to reduce the rate of new HIV infections, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s national risk index.
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Researchers discovered an overlap in geographical areas most vulnerable to climate disasters with those with the highest new infection rates for HIV.
Fifty locations, including 48 counties, Washington, D.C., and San Juan, Puerto Rico, have been designated by EHE as high-priority areas to combat HIV because they’re where more than 50 percent of new HIV cases occur. Those same areas had an average FEMA national risk index score of 96.8 out of 100.
That translates to roughly one in two people living with HIV residing in some of the nation’s most at-risk areas, the authors noted.
“It is not surprising that those most at-risk live in areas particularly vulnerable to extreme weather and climate events,” Kristie Ebi, professor of global health at the University of Washington, who reviewed the analysis, told the 19th. “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.”
Several challenges to those living with HIV in disaster-prone areas are the result.
In areas affected by wildfires like those in California, people living with HIV are more susceptible to respiratory infections, such as pneumonia or severe cases of flu or COVID-19. This puts them at higher risk of worsening health when disasters increase exposure to air pollutants or extreme heat, the authors say. Disasters can also exacerbate the side effects of medications, including antiretrovirals, that people living with HIV take to manage their health.
In areas susceptible to hurricanes and flooding, like New Orleans (one of the priority jurisdictions to combat new HIV infections), patients can lose access to care and medications as pharmacies and hospitals close in the interim.
Beyond physical health impacts, people living with HIV are also at greater risk of depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions, the authors said. Climate disasters are known to increase mental and emotional distress, and HIV stigma contributes to mental stress. Those impacts are only compounded during disaster events when people are displaced.
“Medications are important, and adherence is important,” said Vatsana Chanthala, director of the New Orleans Health Department’s Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, a federal initiative that provides funding for clinics and treatments. “But if a person needs food, needs a place to stay, that’s going to be first on their minds.”
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