Cost

There is no charge for this eCourse.

Overview

This 2.5-hour webinar reviews the experiences of lactating people living with HIV in the USA, as well as the current US Centers for Disease Control recommendations on breastfeeding while living with HIV. Speakers share recent research demonstrating the very low risk of transmission of HIV for lactating people with undetectable levels and means of support for those living with HIV who choose to lactate.

Objectives

• Explain current CDC recommendations on HIV and breastfeeding
• Identify the experiences of parents living with HIV who are breastfeeding or chestfeeding
• Describe considerations when providing antenatal counseling to a pregnant person living with HIV who would like to provide their milk to their infant(s)
• Explain current knowledge regarding HIV transmission in parents living with HIV who are lactating, and why it is time to change US policy

Topic Outline

• Experiences of living with HIV and lactating in the USA
• Recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and National Institute of Health on breastfeeding when living with HIV
• Shared decision making and risk reduction counseling for pregnant people living with HIV who desire to provide their own milk
• Ethical considerations regarding living with HIV and lactation

Accreditation

The AAFP has reviewed Lactation Among Women and Parents Living with HIV- Evidence for a Change in US Policy and deemed it acceptable for up to 2.5 Enduring Materials, Self-Study AAFP Prescribed credits. Term of Approval is from 02/14/2022 to 02/13/2023. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

This recorded course has been allocated 1.5 (L) and 1 (E) Continuing Education Recognition Points (CERPs) by IBLCE. CERPs approval # CLT117-04.
IABLE has been accepted by International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners® (IBLCE®) as a CERP Provider for the listed Continuing Education Recognition Points (CERPs) programme. Determination of CERPs eligibility or CERPs Provider status does not imply IBLCE®’s endorsement or assessment of education quality. INTERNATIONAL BOARD OF LACTATION CONSULTANT EXAMINERS®, IBLCE®, INTERNATIONAL BOARD CERTIFIED LACTATION CONSULTANT®, and IBCLC® are registered marks of the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners.

Speakers

Heather O’Connor (she/her) is a 29-year-old woman, wife, and mother living with HIV- diagnosed in 2016. Heather received support from her providers to breastfeed her two children- both of whom are currently happy, healthy, and HIV-negative. She currently serves as the Programs Director for International Community of Women Living with HIV- North America (ICWNA). Heather is the brainchild of "The Milky Moovement +", a supportive network for mothers/ birthing parents with an interest in breast/chestfeeding.

Martha Sichone Cameron BA, MPH, is the executive director for the International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW) North America and has served on the board of ICW Global. Born and raised in Zambia, she has earned a bachelor’s degree in education (English/French) and a Master’s in Public Health. Most recently Martha worked as the Director of Prevention for Women’s Collective (TWC), a leading community health and human service agency in Washington, DC; TWC provides prevention, care, and support services and advocates for the health and human rights of girls and women.

Other past positions include Director of Policy & Advocacy at TWC, and Executive Director of an International faith-based non-profit called Every Orphan’s Hope (EOH) Inc. in Zambia where she had hands on experience running HIV programs for orphans and widows. Martha still does some consulting work for EOH and with Children’s AIDS Fund International.

Martha is actively involved in various HIV Policy, Advocacy and Research forums including Positive Women’s Network, US PLWHA Caucus and DC Center for AIDS Research.

Jason Faulhaber MD, is an Infectious Diseases specialist in Roanoke, VA. Since 1988, he has been involved with HIV/AIDS whether it be counseling, education, advocacy, prevention, or providing direct medical care. He went to Tulane University for undergraduate education specializing in Cellular and Molecular Biology. He then attended the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He conducted his residency training in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at St. Vincent's Hospital in NYC and fellowship in Infectious Diseases at New York University. He currently serves as the Program Director of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship at Virginia Tech-Carilion School of Medicine and Carilion Clinic. He is the Director of the Ryan White Program at Carilion, and he provides perinatal care for infants born to women living with HIV throughout all of Southwest Virginia.

Adrienne Millner, MD, IBCLC, (she/her/hers) has been an advocate for mothers and other breastfeeding parents since 2002 when she began as a volunteer for La Leche League International. She has been a board-certified lactation consultant since 2009, and her interest in human lactation paved the way to a career in medicine. She received her medical education at the Medical College of Virginia and completed residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Virginia Tech-Carilion School of Medicine. She is currently an attending physician with Natividad Medical Center in Salinas, California, a Baby Friendly certified public hospital with a focus on healthcare equity and access and the sole facility in Monterey County supporting vaginal birth after cesarean. She has two young adult children and breastfed for a total of seven years.

Marielle S. Gross MD, received her medical degree from University of Florida College of Medicine with Honors in Research in 2014. She completed her residency in Gynecology & Obstetrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2018. She received the Williams Senior Resident Research Award in 2017 for Breastfeeding Policy for US Women Living with HIV: An Ethical Analysis of the Evidence and was inducted into the Johns Hopkins Distinguished Teaching Society in 2017. She also received her Master’s in Bioethics at New York University in 2010. Currently, in addition to providing clinical care at UPMC Altoona, Marielle is piloting a simulation-based medical ethics curriculum for University of Pittsburgh medical students during their obstetrics/gynecology rotation.

Prior to coming to the University of Pittsburgh, Marielle was a Hecht-Levi Postdoctoral Fellow at the Johns-Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. Her research continues to focus on the application of technology and elimination of bias as means of promoting evidence-basis, equity and efficiency in women’s healthcare. She pursues these themes along two key dimensions. First, she is exploring ethics of health data and implementation of learning health systems via emerging technologies (e.g., blockchain, artificial intelligence and privacy-preserving computation). She challenges the status quo in ethical, sociocultural, legal and technical models for data treatment, for example by advancing the concept of "health data as labor" and critiquing current ethical and legal protections for data use both within and outside of traditional healthcare research contexts. The second major dimension focuses on dismantling "Prejudice Based Medicine," i.e., policies and practices which are not evidence-based and which tend to exacerbate disparities in health and healthcare. She has explored these issues in depth as they affect women living with HIV, hepatitis or substance use, and is currently studying disrespect and bias in prenatal records.”

Conflicts of Interest

None