Conversation Highlights Clinical Guidelines for Infant Feeding and People With HIV

One month ago today was National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and we recognize that today is National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Because all awareness days are about increasing awareness, sharing resources, and educating, we want to remind our readers about an important resource that was highlighted during our last awareness day that’s important to the HIV community. The resource was the January 2023 Update to the Clinical Guidelines for Infant Feeding.

During a recent Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS meeting, HIV.gov had a conversation with Martha Sichone-Cameron, an HIV advocate with the United States People Living with HIV Caucus (also known as the HIV Caucus) about the clinical guidelines. The update clarifies breast/chestfeeding guidance for people with HIV and supports shared decision making between them and their healthcare providers. Additionally, the guidelines note that taking HIV medicine and keeping an undetectable viral load substantially decreases a person’s risk of transmitting HIV to their infant through breast/chestfeeding to less than 1%.

WatchExit Disclaimer a brief video with Ms. Sichone-Cameron. In it, she emphasizes the importance of the update noting: “The new HIV perinatal guidelines that were released by Health and Human Services [in January] of this year are so important because they allow individuals living with HIV to be able to breast and chestfeed.”

Read more about the guidelines which integrate community input and recent evidence-based data. For more HIV.gov coverage of this topic, please also read this blog which includes a video featuring Dr. Laura Cheever, HRSA’s Associate Administrator for the HIV/AIDS Bureau who also leads the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. Additionally, Harold Phillips discussed the update in a video featured in this blog, which users are also encouraged to read.