Tag: Reproductive health

U=U should mean reproductive freedom — but many fertility clinics haven’t caught up yet

December 1, 2025 • By Mona Loutfy and Amy Ly

Someone living with HIV calls a fertility clinic to ask about booking a consultation. They may have spent months planning for this moment, choosing the right time, the right support, the right words. But instead of a clear pathway to care, they are told that they need to be referred somewhere else. Or that the clinic is “not sure” whether they can provide services. Or they are met with silence on the phone while someone tries to decide how to respond. For many people living with HIV who want to build families, this is still a familiar experience. For people...

The Kotawêw Indigenous HIV/STBBI Doula Project: How kinship has guided our research journey

February 18, 2025 • By Candace Neumann, Melissa Morris and Rusty Souleymanov

The Kotawêw Indigenous HIV/STBBI Doula Project is a community response to the disproportionate impact of HIV and other sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBIs) on Indigenous women and gender-diverse people. While our work is currently in the research phase, our goal is to co-create a curriculum to train Indigenous doulas who can support community members by fostering connections to HIV/STBBI prevention and treatment services through care grounded in kinship and traditional practices. Our core team is made up of Indigenous women and Two-Spirit researchers with lived experience, and allies. The project is co-led by two Elders/Knowledge Holders, Albert McLeod and...