Caesarean section

Caesarean section

There is evidence that delivery by Caesarean section will reduce the chance of infection during birth. More evidence is needed before this potentially hazardous procedure can be routinely recommended to pregnant women with HIV.

Breast feeding

The breast milk of a woman with HIV contains enough virus to infect a baby during breast feeding. In regions with a poor water supply, using substitutes for breast milk can be a greater risk to babies' health than HIV, and women with HIV are advised to breast feed. In parts of the world where the water supply is safe, women with HIV are recommended not to breast feed.



Talking to health care workers

Many doctors and midwives will be helpful and supportive to a woman with HIV who wants a child. A few are less so. It can be very hard for a woman with HIV to tell her health care workers she is pregnant or wants to be, if she suspects they will try to change her mind. Staff with experience of working with women who have HIV are likely to be the best informed and most supportive.



Towards the future

In time the development of a vaccine may prevent new HIV infections throughout the world. Until that happens we all need to know how to protect ourselves and each other. HIV infection is preventable, but we need to understand how. Often we need support to help us act on our knowledge.

Honest, sex-positive sex education will help prepare young people for adulthood, but it is not always available in this country. Particularly important is a sex education which will help young people to feel confident and good about their sexuality (and this includes young gay men, lesbians and bisexuals), and which gives them information about sexual health which is relevant to them. Confidence and self esteem help everyone achieve a healthy sex life.

Sticking to safer sex is not always easy, and the same can be true for safer drug use. We are all human after all. Even in the UK, people are becoming newly infected all the time.

If you are finding that safer sex or safer drug use is a struggle, why not call one of the Helplines to talk it through. They are there to give support, or just to listen. Many HIV organisations, including the Terrence Higgins Trust, also have counsellors you can talk to face-to-face