HIV Donor Milk

Waniska was asked to join in on the HIV Donor Breast Milk Study by Dr. Kelsey Cochrane to help with community engagement. She has connected with Waniska to help her research by collaborating with and engaging the community through our connections, as well as to ensure Indigenous voices are included. 

The goals for this project are to understand caregiver acceptability of providing donor breast milk as part of their baby’s diet and find any concerns and solutions for provision of donor breast milk and to gain insights firsthand into the feasibility of donor breast milk provisions for HIV-exposed infants. Currently, donor breast milk is only available to infants that are in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The donor breast milk is supplied by a milk bank from Calgary Alberta, the only one in Canada. Recruitment will look at participants that are from Saskatchewan-based programs for HIV-positive individuals. 

Dr. Kelsey Cochrane (PhD, RD) has received confirmation of receiving the Excellence Award at the 2025 SHRF Sante Awards. Please check out SHRF Excellence Award 2025 to read all about Dr. Cochrane and her amazing work.