eHIV Review

Issues Facing Women Living with HIV

In this issue:

Women and those assigned female at birth living with HIV (WLWH) face significant and unique challenges. These women, for instance, experience higher rates of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress symptoms than their male counterparts and HIV-unaffected women.

In this issue of eHIV Review, Anna Maya Powell, MD, MS, Assistant Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, breaks down not only the considerable burdens in WLWH, but also the unique treatment approaches for this population as well as updated considerations on perinatal HIV transmission risk through breast/chest feeding.

Learning objectives:

• Describe the safety and use of various antiretroviral regimens with hormonal contraception and hormone replacement therapy.
• Understand the morbidity of unplanned pregnancy, perinatal depression, and menopause among women living with HIV.
• Describe updated information about the perinatal transmission risk of HIV through breast/chest feeding and steps providers can take to counsel patients with HIV about infant feeding options.