HIV, pregnancy and women’s health
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
Produced by i-Base with the 4M Mothers Mentoring Network (email: info@4mmm.org).
Introduction
Background and general questions
- If you have just been diagnosed with HIV
- Can women living with HIV become mothers?
- Your HIV treatment will protect your baby
- How is HIV transmitted to a baby?
- Are pregnant women automatically offered HIV testing?
- Is it really safe to take HIV medicines during pregnancy?
- Will being pregnant make my HIV worse?
- Medical words used during pregnancy
- Additional info
Protecting and ensuring the mother’s health
How is HIV is transmitted to a baby
- How and why does vertical transmission happen?
- Transmission during pregnancy (in utero)
- Transmission during labour and delivery (intrapartum transmission)
- Transmission from breastfeeding
Planning your pregnancy
- Conception
- How to become pregnant when one partner is HIV positive and the other is HIV negative
- Can I get help if I am having difficulty conceiving?
- Is fertility treatment available to people living with HIV?
HIV care and treatment during pregnancy
- What is antenatal care?
- Do all women living with HIV need to use ART during pregnancy?
- What if I am already taking ART when I become pregnant?
- What HIV drugs will I take?
- What if I only discover I am HIV-positive late in pregnancy?
- What about if my HIV status is only discovered when I am in labour?
- Should I carry on taking ART after my baby is born?
- Should I expect more side effects when I am pregnant?
Screening and monitoring
Prevention and treatment of other infections
- Opportunistic infection prevention and treatment
- Vaccines
- Hepatitis A and B coinfections
- Hepatitis C coinfection
- TB coinfection
- Genital herpes
Delivering your baby
- Can I have a vaginal delivery?
- Caesarean section (C-section)
- Can I have a vaginal birth if I have had a C-section before?
- Why is a C-section sometimes recommended if you are HIV positive?
- When should I have a planned C-section?
- What if my waters break before my planned C-section?
- Will a C-section now stop me having a vaginal in the future?
- What else do I need to remember for the birth?
HIV drugs and the baby’s health
- Will HIV drugs affect the baby?
- Prematurity
- Can HIV drugs cause birth defects?
- What about anaemia?
- What about bilirubin?
- Will my baby be monitored for these symptoms?
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 HIV drugs they are 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
Appendix: the Swiss Statement
Feedback
Quotes
References
Credits
Polly Clayden wrote this guide for HIV i-Base.
Thanks to the advisory board of HIV positive people, activists and health care professionals for comments and the people who shared their stories.
Funded by The Monument Trust.
Artwork copyright: Keith Haring Studio.
Disclaimer
Information in this booklet is not intended to replace information from your doctor. Treatment decisions should always be made in consultation with your doctor.
About our guides
Information about how we produced this guide and the importance of using language that is direct and easy to understand.
This includes information on how to write non technical medical information that may be useful as a resource for other organisations.
Last updated: 1 November 2023.