WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The American Academy of Pediatrics or AAP has advised HIV positive mothers to go ahead with breastfeeding as long as they take proper medications and follow guidelines laid down by their medical care team.
Health officials claimed that proper medication can reduce the risk of transmitting HIV through breast milk to less than one percent.
The announcement comes as AAP published its new report regarding providing support to HIV-positive mothers, who are taking antiretroviral treatment or ART, and has an undetectable amount of the virus in their bodies.
'The AAP recommends that for people with HIV in the United States, replacement feeding is the only option that is 100 percent certain to prevent postnatal transmission of HIV,' the report stated. 'However, pediatric health care professionals should be prepared to provide infant feeding counseling and a family-centered, culturally sensitive, harm reduction approach for people with HIV on ART with sustained viral suppression who desire to breastfeed.'
The report further stated that if the mother is not receiving ART, then the risk of HIV transmission through breast milk ranges from 5 to 6 percent during the baby's first four to six weeks of life.
'What's new is that the AAP for the first time is explicitly saying that pregnant people with HIV who are on treatment and undetectable can be supported to breastfeed,' said Dr. Lisa Abuogi, lead author of the report and a pediatrician in Colorado who works with people with HIV.
'This has been a long evolution, and people living with HIV have been a part of advocating for this change,' Abuogi continued. 'Some women feel shame or distress or feel like they're not fulfilling their role as a mother if they can't breastfeed, and some are really worried that that discloses their HIV status in their community - if breastfeeding is the norm and you have to explain why you're not doing it.'
Earlier, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked healthcare officials to not alert child protective services agencies if a person with HIV chooses to breastfeed.
Copyright(c) 2024 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2024 AFX News
