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Working in partnership with George House Trust

The Big Life Group is proud to have worked in partnership with George House Trust, to make a real difference to breast feeding mothers living with HIV in Greater Manchester.

The Big Life Group was a founding member of the Alternative Provider Collaborative, that brings together social enterprise health providers in Greater Manchester. At one of its meetings George House Trust shared its frustration at the resistance they experienced from some Health Visitor teams to their work improving awareness and offering choice of breast milk substitutes to breastfeeding mothers living with HIV.

Thanks to the connections Big Life has built over many years, we were able to escalate this issue to the GM ICB through Rukhsana Ahmed, (Headteacher at Longsight Community Primary School – part of Big Life Schools) who sits on the Greater Manchester School Readiness Board.

Through working in collaboration, the Greater Manchester Breastfeeding Information and Support strategy has been updated to include: “This strategy acknowledges that for some mothers and parents, breastfeeding may not be possible or may not be a risk-free choice (for example those living with certain medical conditions such as HIV). Support and information on infant feeding is available to all parents.”

Better aligned with the British HIV Association guidance, the new wording recognises that breastfeeding is not always possible for all parents and means more inclusive and appropriate messaging will now be rolled out across Greater Manchester.

Rukhsana Ahmed said: “This collaborative approach has allowed multiple organisations to be involved in ensuring medical information is inclusive for all who access it. While I’m not an expert on the topic, I understood a change to the GM Breastfeeding Strategy was the best outcome and having that shared goal supported by different teams across Greater Manchester made it all the more powerful.”

Rukhsana added: “Even if the change only affects a seemingly small percentage of people, I believe every person counts.”

Being connected is a key part of the Big Life Way. We have strong and lasting connections with our colleagues, partners, people and communities, achieving more together than we can alone.