Positive Attitudes Concerning Infant Feeding- a Questionnaire for Women Living With HIV

The PACIFY Study is a questionnaire for antenatal(third trimester) and postnatal(three months post delivery) Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) positive women attending clinics in London and Brighton. The current World Health Organisation guidance advises HIV positive women, who are adhering to antiretroviral therapy (ART), to exclusively breastfeed for the first 6 months of the infant's life and continue supplemental breastfeeding for up to 2 years. This is conflicts with the current British HIV Association guidelines which advise exclusive formula feeding. The reason for this difference is the relative safety of formula feeding in the United Kingdom(UK)against the low but persisting risk of HIV infection through breast-feeding. The aim of the PACIFY study is to explore attitudes towards breastfeeding amongst HIV positive women, who are either pregnant or post-partum. The study will also assess the understanding of current infant feeding guidance by these women and assess their current or recent infant feeding practice. It will also look at whether HIV positive mothers would be willing and able to comply with special monitoring and guidance whilst breastfeeding if the guidelines were to change. The study aims to analyse 100 questionnaires completed over a 3-6 month period.