The first-ever HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day was marked on September 18, 2008. Sponsored by the AIDS Institute, the day acknowledged the rising number of people living with the virus over the age of 50, Newsweek reports.

According to the article, the number of positive people over 50 increased by more than 700 percent between 1990 and 2005, largely attributed to advances in antiretroviral therapy. Today, people over age 50 make up 35 percent of overall HIV/AIDS cases, while those over 40 make up 70 percent, according to the AIDS Community Research Initiative of America (ACRIA).

“It’s very much to me kind of a good news-bad news situation right now,” said Bill Stackhouse, PhD, director of the New York–based AIDS service organization Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC). “The good news is that the meds are great, and people are living longer. But now there’s a whole new set of issues to be faced.”

Those issues include drug interactions and other conditions that become more common with age, such as diabetes and high cholesterol.