Positive Parenting

Recorded: April 5th 2024

Duration: 40 mins

Dr Shema Tariq and Bakita Kasadha join Dr Naomi Sutton to debunk the myths and misinformation surrounding the joyous but potentially challenging experience of becoming a parent as a person living with HIV (PLWH). While people with HIV routinely give birth to HIV-negative babies, they are often offered poor advice and limited post-natal support. Shema gives a rundown of the latest infant feeding guidelines from the British HIV Association (BHIVA) and how clinicians can support parents living with HIV while Bakita talks through the Nourish-UK study findings which looks at the experiences of parents with HIV and how they make decisions about feeding their babies.

“If a woman is on treatment, or if a birthing parent is on treatment, the risk of passing HIV onto a baby, something that we call vertical transmission, is between 1 in 500 and 1 in a 1000. […] That's the same as getting nine heads in a row if you toss a coin – so it's really, really unlikely.”

Resources:

BHIVA Pregnancy Guidelines

Preventing Vertical Transmission, Terrence Higgins Trust

NOURISH-UK Patient Information Leaflet

4M Mentor Mothers

Guest Speakers

Bakita Kasadha

Bakita Kasadha is an award-winning health researcher, health writer and poet who sits at the intersection of social science and HIV advocacy. Bakita is currently pursuing a DPhil at the University of Oxford interrogating the experiences of peer lived-experience researchers in academic health studies, and is a Co-Investigator on the Partnership for Black People’s Health study. She also chairs the board of Glitch and is a board member of the Fast-Track Cities Leadership Group.

Follow Bakita on Twitter/X @BakitaKK or at her website: www.bakitakk.com

Dr Shema Tariq

Dr Shema Tariq is a Consultant HIV and Sexual Health Physician at Mortimer Market Centre, and Clinical Academic at University College London's Institute for Global Health. Her main clinical and research interest is the health and wellbeing of women living with HIV. She leads the PRIME Study - one of the largest studies internationally on HIV and menopause. Shema is also part of the GROWS team, developing information and peer support for older women living with HIV, and is a Trustee of Positively UK and Tommy's. She is also Chair of the Steering Group of 4M Network, a UK-wide Mentor Mother programme.

Follow her work on Twitter/X @savoy__truffle and @prime_ucl

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This promotional website is developed and funded by Gilead Sciences Ltd and intended for healthcare professionals in IE.