Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2009. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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New Vision (Kampala) - August 12, 2009
Dr. Sara Brubaker, from Kenya, who presented his findings at the IAS Conference on HIV in Cape Town, said harm reduction interventions were needed to avoid HIV transmission in couples who have different HIV statuses and wish to have children.
In the study of 532 HIV-discordant couples, Brubaker said 41 (7.6%) of the uninfected partners got HIV eventually. In the 328 (61.7%) of the couples, the female was HIV-positive, compared to 204 (38.3%) where the male was HIV-positive. 95.3% of study participants were married to their partner.
There were 373 pregnancies during the study period (this number included men if their partner conceived) compared to 698 individuals who did not become pregnant.
Although couples studies have shown that condom use increases when couples learn about their discordant status, these same studies shown that 20 to 43% of couples continue to have unprotected intercourse despite knowledge of their serostatus.
This behaviour is often motivated by the desire to have children. This urge increases when the couple is young, has few or no previous children and has access to antiretroviral treatment (ART).
The relative risk of a partner acquiring HIV was 1.8 times greater in discordant couples where pregnancy did not occur than in those where pregnancy did occur.
Reference: Pregnancy and HIV transmission among HIV discordant couples in a clinical trial in Kisumu, Kenya
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