September 2011
This guide explains what to do if you are diagnosed with HIV in pregnancy, and what to do if you already know you are HIV positive and decide to have a baby.
Open publication as a magazine
Introduction
Background and general questions
- If you have just been diagnosed with HIV
- Can HIV positive women become mothers?
- How is HIV transmitted to a baby?
- Are pregnant women automatically offered HIV testing?
- How do HIV drugs protect the baby?
- Is it really safe to take HIV medicines during pregnancy?
- Will being pregnant make my HIV worse?
Protecting and ensuring the mother’s health
Mother to child transmission
- How and why does transmission happen?
- Transmission during pregnancy (in utero)
- During labour and delivery (intrapartum transmission)
- Breastfeeding
Planning your pregnancy
- Preconception, planned pregnancy, and your rights to have a baby
- When the man is HIV positive and the woman HIV negative
- When the woman is HIV positive and the man is HIV negative
- When both partners are HIV positive
- The Swiss Statement
- Can I get help if I am having difficulty conceiving?
Prenatal care and HIV treatment
- What is prenatal care?
- What if I do not need treatment for my own HIV?
- What if I need treatment for my own HIV?
- When is the best time to start if I have a high viral load?
- What if I only discover I am HIV positive late in pregnancy?
- What if I am already using HIV treatment when I become pregnant?
HIV drugs during pregnancy
Resistance, monitoring and other tests
- What about resistance?
- Should I have a resistance test?
- Will I need extra tests and monitoring?
- Are there any tests that I should not have?
- Opportunist infection prevention and treatment during pregnancy
- Vaccine use while pregnant
- Treating recurrent genital herpes during pregnancy
- HIV, hepatitis coinfection and TB
HIV drugs and the baby’s health
Choices for delivery
After the baby is born
- What will I need to consider for my own health?
- How and when will I know that my baby is HIV negative?
- Will my baby need to take HIV drugs after he/she is born?
- Will I need to use contraception after the baby is born?
Feeding your baby
Tips to help adherence
Tips to help with morning sickness or drug-associated nausea
Useful charts
Additional info
References
Feedback
Credits
The guide was written and compiled by Polly Clayden for HIV i-Base.
Thanks to the advisory board of HIV-positive people, activists and health care professionals for comments; the Monument Trust for funding this publication, the people who shared their stories, and to Memory Sachikonye for helping to find them.
Artwork copyright Keith Haring Studio.