Q and A

Question

I have HIV, a doctor says we can’t have children. Is this true?

I am a HIV positive man and my partner is negative. When we met a doctor he said it is not possible to have a child without infection and also that this is risky for my partner. We want a child, please help us.

Answer

Hi,

This doctor is giving you bad information. Many couples like yours, with a positive and a negative partner safely have HIV negative children.

This is almost always now done using treatment. After a few months you being on HIV treatment protects your partner. Because of this she will not get HIV and because of that any child will also be HIV negative.

It is a good idea to look for a doctor who knows more about HIV and having children.

We have a post on our website with information about HIV positive men having children.

12 comments

  1. Roy Trevelion

    Hi Nthabiseng, The doctor is wrong, you can have a child while you are positive. See this guide to HIV pregnancy and women’s health. So if your viral load is undetectable when you become pregnant, it can protect your baby from HIV. Thousands of HIV positive mothers around the world have had healthy HIV negative babies. Also, your partner can start taking ARVs at any CD4 count, and not just after CD4 count is below 500. There are more questions about starting treatment here.

  2. Nthabiseng

    Hi..me and my partner are both positive am taking the Arvs his not because his viral load over thousand and the doctor said he will start taking the Arvs when the viral load is below 5oo and now we want to have a child n the doctor said we cannot have a child while we are positive and if I become pregnant is better we terminate the pregnancy because is risky to have a child while we are hiv positive because we will infect our child and we really need a child as we both childless. So is it save to have a child and will our child be hiv positive too?

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