Social and Sexual Health of People over 50 Living with HIV in Belgium

This paper presents the challenges (in terms of recruitment, methodology and analysis) of a qualitative sociological survey of people over 50 living with HIV (PLHIV50+) in Belgium. The research focuses on a subject that, paradoxically, is both unthought of (insofar as no research exists on the subject in Belgium, unlike in other countries, particularly French-speaking countries such as France and Canada) and an increasingly significant reality (while PLHIV50+ represented only 19% of all patients in Belgium in 2006, they account for 49% in 2022).

This poses a number of questions, firstly for the subjects themselves: in terms of health status (co-morbidities, long-term treatment side-effects, disability, etc.), quality of life (access to institutions, mental and sexual health, relationship with family, etc.) and the fight against inequality and discrimination.

Secondly, in terms of theoretical framing, since this research is being carried out at the Observatoire du sida et des sexualités, a resolutely multi-disciplinary research center (psychology, anthropology, sociology).

Finally, in terms of the co-construction of knowledge with the agents concerned, whose older age is likely to turn into “expert patients”, but also with political stakeholders in a context of medical hegemony where the fight against HIV/AIDS is very largely reclassified as a sector of the promotion of sexual health.