Overview
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is a specialty membership organization dedicated to the advancement of women’s health through education, practice, and research. ACOG's more than 57,000 member physicians comprise more than 95% of board-certified obstetrician-gynecologists in the United States. Gynecologists often serve as a woman’s primary care provider, especially during her reproductive years, and perform 14 million gynecologic exams and 1.5 million general medical exams annually. Ob-gyns conduct 85% of the over 4 million annual deliveries in this country. In these roles, ACOG members are in a position to help stop the spread of HIV by identifying previously undiagnosed cases of infection among their pregnant and non-pregnant patients and by providing specialized obstetric and gynecologic care for their patients with HIV infection.
An important focus of ACOG’s work is the development of practice guidelines for HIV testing and obstetric and gynecologic care for women living with HIV infection. In late 2002, the College convened a Perinatal HIV Expert Work Group to advise College staff and practice committees in the development of guidelines pertaining to HIV and pregnancy. When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released Revised Recommendations for HIV Testing of Adults, Adolescents, and Pregnant Women in Health-Care Settings in 2006, the group expanded its role to include routine gynecologic care and family planning for HIV-infected women and was renamed the HIV Expert Work Group. The current work group includes experts in HIV/AIDS, maternal-fetal medicine, routine gynecologic care, and family planning. The group is chaired by Howard Minkoff, MD with Jean Anderson, MD; Roxanne Jamshidi, MD, MPH; Denise Jamieson, MD, MPH; Laura Riley, MD; and Heather Watts, MD serving as members. The HIV Expert Work Group contributes significantly to materials available on this website.
The Women and HIV website is designed to provide ob-gyns, other women’s health care providers, and patients with a central, trusted source of up-to-date information about HIV infection in women. For many women, HIV infection is a manageable chronic condition and they may lead normal lives and have healthy babies if they become pregnant. It is our goal that HIV testing become a routine component of gynecologic care for all women, that all pregnant women be tested for HIV during each pregnancy, and that all women with HIV infection receive the best possible obstetric and gynecologic care. We hope that the information available on this website will educate women about HIV infection and its impact on their reproductive health and be a resource for providers for best practices and patient education.
Development of this program was supported by Cooperative Agreement Number 5U65PS000813-04 REVISED from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the CDC.
Reference in the website to any specific commercial products, process, service, manufacturers, or company does not constitute its endorsement or recommendation by the US government or the CDC. In addition, the CDC does not take any ownership of the content found on external non-Federal websites that link back to the CDC.