Is it really safe to take HIV medicines during pregnancy?
Pregnant women are generally advised to avoid taking any medications. However, this is not the case when considering the use of HIV treatment during pregnancy. This difference can seem confusing.
No one can tell you that it is completely safe to use HIV drugs while you are pregnant. Some HIV medicines, for instance, should not be used during that period.
At the same time, however, many thousands of women have taken therapy during pregnancy without any complications to their baby. This has resulted in many healthy HIV negative babies.
During your prenatal discussions, you and your doctor will weigh up the benefits and risks of using treatment to you and your baby.
Your healthcare team also has access to an international birth defect registry. This has tracked birth defects in babies exposed to antiretroviral drugs since 1989.
So far, the registry has not seen an increase in the type or rate of birth defects, in babies whose mothers have been treated with the current anti-HIV drugs, compared to the babies born to mums not using HIV drugs.