The medical community is getting very good at treating HIV. However, we now need to ask: where is the focus on the impact of HIV and its related conditions on a person’s function or participation in their community? This is the focus of rehabilitation.
A focus on function and participation is especially important now that many more people living with HIV are able to access antiretroviral therapy (ART) allowing them to experience near-normal life expectancies. For many people with consistent access to ART, HIV is becoming a chronic and episodic disease with periods of wellness and illness.
Medicine is adding years to life. Rehabilitation aims to add life to one’s years – by helping people living with HIV to continue to work, keep up parenting roles, go to school, participate in church, feel active and independent, or any other goal related to living the life they choose.