The Well Project

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We’re proud to partner with Mediaplanet on their recently published Living With HIV and AIDS campaign. As of 2020, more than 1.2 million Americans are currently living with HIV and facing the stigma associated with an HIV diagnosis every day. The Well Project's Krista Martel, Olivia G Ford, and Ciarra "Ci Ci " Covin sit down with Mediaplanet and talk about strategies for dismantling stigma and other barriers to care. Learn how we can empower individuals to speak out against the stigma and discrimination often associated with HIV and AIDS by picking up a copy of the campaign in today’s edition of USA Today, and read online here: https://lnkd.in/gVEBmQmh

The Well Project is thrilled to announce that The Well Project's Senior Manager of Community Programming Ciarra "Ci Ci" Covin recently published "Parenting with HIV: a Patient's View on Updated Infant Feeding Guidelines in the US" about the experience of and updated guidance around breast/chestfeeding in the medical journal HIV Research and Clinical Practice. The piece also highlights findings from The Well Project's online survey that gauged knowledge and attitudes of breast/chestfeeding and HIV. This survey featured robust feedback from providers and confirmed that breastfeeding with HIV in the US remains a challenging area of care for women living with HIV. In a quote she says "Parents living with HIV must be equipped with information and resources to enable them to make the best decision for themselves and their families and healthcare providers must use updated, evidence-based recommendations to support parents on their journeys." Read more, and find the link to full article on our website. #HIV #HIVandwomen #AGLM #onewomanatatime #patientperspectives #parenting #women #advocacy #getthefacts #medicaljournal #journal #publication

On this day June 5, 1981, a report in the MMWR- the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report- detailed the first cases of what we now know as HIV. The evolution of HIV and AIDS is not just medical reports, but stories of survival, resilience, and community holding each other together. This HIV Long-term Survivors Day ( #HLTSD )The Well Project recognizes these communities which includes people who were diagnosed with HIV before the availability of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 1996, people born with HIV (lifetime survivors), and those who identify as long-term survivors. While improvements in medications and breakthroughs in research have continually improved the management of HIV, unique issues still exist for those aging with HIV. The Well Project reaffirms our commitment to uplift women across the gender spectrum and lifespan, elevate their voices, and provide space for them to tell their stories. You can read some of those stories and see a webinar with lifetime survivors on our website at this link. https://lnkd.in/gSGHakme #HIV #HIVandwomen #AGLM #onewomanatatime #blogging #HLSD #longtermsurvivors #dandelions #lifetimesurvivors #AIDS #women #advocacy #getthefacts

The Well Project commends recent updates made by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to their guidance on recommended infant feeding practices, "Infant Feeding for Persons Living with and at Risk for HIV in the United States: Clinical Report". These updates, which reverse prior guidance, instruct pediatric care providers to offer a "family-centered, nonjudgmental, harm reduction approach" to support people living with HIV who want to breast/chestfeed and are virally suppressed on antiretroviral therapy. "For many years, we at The Well Project have collaborated with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that women living with HIV can make the best infant-feeding choices for their families, and we applaud the pediatric care professionals who made these updated recommendations possible," said Krista Heitzman Martel, executive director of The Well Project. "These updates, which recognize the complex nature of infant-feeding conversations, have the potential to meaningfully improve the care and decision-making processes of women and other parents living with HIV, as well as the health of their babies." The Well Project's senior manager of community programming, Ciarra Covin, who was featured in an Associated Press (AP) article about updates to the guidelines, has publicly shared her frustration after being told she could not breastfeed her first child and her success nursing her second. "I couldn't understand how come my sister that lives in a place like Kenya, who looks just like me with the same color brown skin, was given the option to breastfeed and how my option was starkly 'no,'" she said. "Breast milk has everything in it that my baby would need. That's a beautiful thing." Read the full statement and access the updated guidelines and additional resources on this topic via the link! #thewellproject #HIVwomen

The deadline is quickly approaching to register. You won't want to miss this informative workshop on women and HIV. Register today by following the link! The Well Project is proud to endorse the 14th International Workshop on HIV & Women, which will take place in a hybrid format on April 12-13, 2024 in Washington D.C., United States. The International Workshop on HIV & Women has now completed its 13th year and continues to evolve. It is an outstanding opportunity for healthcare providers, researchers, government, industry, and community representatives to discuss, debate, and further their knowledge on the issues related to HIV and women. The workshop considers both local and global issues and the information learnt in one setting is often translated into another https://lnkd.in/gX6pT6ee... #HIVwomen #internationalworkshop #womenandHIV #conference

📢 Shoutout to this sexy webinar by our partner The Well Project on Sex, Pleasure, and PrEP, a leadership exchange opportunity for all interested in learning more about: 🌟 the unique facets of women's sexual experiences 🌟the significance of giving priority to pleasure and sexual satisfaction for women affected by or susceptible to HIV 🌟the use of PrEP as a pleasure and empowerment tool for women 📅 When? March 12th ⏲ What time? 12pm ET 👀 Check it out now and book your spot! https://lnkd.in/dNnfhsAe

Episode 3x5 of NNEDV and Futures Without Violence #ExpandingTheContinuum podcast is now live! Learn more about "Autonomy and Advancements in Infant Feeding" with Olivia Ford and Ciarra “Ci Ci” Covin (The Well Project): https://bit.ly/3kHzhYx

Language and how we talk about HIV and life with HIV has an impact on not only how we see ourselves but also on our care. Healthcare for HIV is not only the doctors we see and the medications we take, but it is also the science and clinical research that goes into the medications we take. Sent via University of Washington/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (UW/Fred Hutch) Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), a group of advocates and activists would like to invite you to sign on to a letter to the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases requesting the use of stigmatizing language be eliminated. See more by following the link and find out where you can sign the petition. https://lnkd.in/gw2-Pe6y #HIV #HIVandwomen #language #onewomanatatime #stigma #women #advocacy #getthefacts

A huge congratulations to Marnina Miller (CAB member) and Keiva Lei Cadena for their new appointment to co-Executive Directors for our partner organization/sisters Positive Women's Network - USA! We are so excited to see Marnina's leadership grow in this new role, and know that the amazing direction and leadership of Naina Khanna will be carried on through these new fierce Co-ED's!