This post originally appeared on and can be read in its entirety at The Well Project.

The Well Project is excited to launch BEEEBAH (Building Equity, Ethics, and Education on Breastfeeding and HIV)! This comprehensive, multi-tiered project expands upon our efforts to increase knowledge and expand access to information around breast/chestfeeding* and HIV. The program is part of our endeavors to address the lack of women-specific information and representation across all areas of HIV prevention, care, research, and policy.

BEEEBAH, which has received a three-year grant from ViiV Healthcare’s Positive Action for Women initiative (to date), will address a number of the key programmatic goals identified in the Expert Consensus Statement on Breastfeeding* and HIV in the United States and Canada. Through educational resource creation, leadership development, and collaborative efforts, BEEEBAH will work to ensure that women living with HIV can experience their fundamental right to make informed, uncoerced infant-feeding decisions.

We invite you to check out the video of the first session of Leadership Exchange LIVE: BEEEBAH Edition. The session featured Ciarra “Ci Ci” Covin (The Well Project) and Allison Agwu, MD, ScM (Johns Hopkins). Covin related her personal experiences as a woman living with HIV, new parent, and advocate; Agwu shared insights from her work caring for women living with HIV across the lifespan (from pediatrics to adults), including women who choose to breastfeed.

*The language we use around this work includes both “breastfeeding” and “breast/chestfeeding.” While our organization unapologetically focuses on cis and trans women living with HIV, we strive to include trans men, nonbinary individuals, and others living with HIV who wish to explore feeding a child from their body. We acknowledge that there are multiple terms to describe this process.

The Well Project is a non-profit organization whose mission is to change the course of the HIV/AIDS pandemic through a unique and comprehensive focus on women and girls. Visit their website, https://www.thewellproject.org/, to access fact sheets (English and Spanish), blogs, and advocacy tools, and to join a global community of women living with HIV.