Oral

Misconceptions exist about the safety of contraceptive use and exclusive breastfeeding for HIV infected women. This session will discuss the need to incorporate family planning into HIV counseling. Experiences from Kenya, sub Saharan Africa, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, South Africa and Nicaragua will be shared. The first panelist will discuss integrating family planning into HIV care in Kenya. Family planning knowledge, attitudes and practices among HIV care providers will be presented. The second panelist describes a project in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Nicaragua aimed at preventing unplanned pregnancies among women living with HIV. The presentation will explore family planning needs and the degree to which health facilities are equipped to adequately satisfy these needs. WHO recommends that HIV positive mothers exclusively breastfeed or replacement feed when replacement feeding is acceptable, feasible, affordable, sustainable and safe to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Data from sub Saharan Africa will be presented in the third paper demonstrating the difficulty of implementing these recommendations. The fourth paper will discuss the challenges faced by contraceptive providers in high HIV-prevalence settings in South Africa.

Session Objectives: 1. Describe current knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding family planning among a sample of Kenyan HIV care providers 2. Understand the family planning needs of women living with HIV in Dominican Republic, Haiti and Nicaragua 3. Analyze the situation surrounding HIV positive women who are exclusively breastfeeding and the how it can reduced MTCT. 4. Assess provision of contraceptive services to HIV-infected women in South Africa

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing