HIV, disability and rehabilitation

Abstract

With effective treatments, people living with HIV can now have normal life expectancies, grow older, and live with concurrent health conditions. Consequently, many people living and ageing with HIV now face new or worsening experiences of a wide variety of disability. The conceptualisation of disability is complex and has evolved over time. Disability can be broadly defned as any physical, cognitive, mental or emotional impairment, diffculty with day-to-day activities, challenges to social inclusion, or uncertainty, which can be episodic in nature. A range of measurement tools are available to evaluate the nature and extent of disability. The HIV Disability Questionnaire is the sole HIV-specifc disability measurement tool. Identifcation of people at risk of, or experiencing disability, enables access to the right services at the right time. Rehabilitation is a fundamental health service and is the care needed when a person is experiencing, or likely to experience, limitations in everyday functioning or disability. Evidence-informed recommendations for HIV rehabilitation guide best practice and can inform personcentred HIV health care