If a women with HIV infection with HIV has a baby, it is possible to pass the infection on to the baby during the pregnancy, during labor and delivery and to a lesser degree through breastfeeding. Fortunately, the use of certain HIV medications during pregnancy and labor can dramatically reduce this risk.

However, not everyone with HIV is aware they have it. For this reason, experts strongly recommend that all pregnant people undergo screening for HIV infection.

Women With HIV Infection should take HIV medicines. These medicines can lower the risk of passing HIV to a baby and improve the mother’s health.

If you take your treatment correctly, it will lower the amount of HIV in your body. In some people, the amount of HIV in their body can be reduced to such low levels that it is said to be ‘undetectable’ (undetectable viral load). This means that you can plan to have a vaginal delivery because the risk of passing on HIV to your baby during childbirth will be extremely small. If you don’t have an undetectable viral load, you may be offered a caesarean section, as this carries a smaller risk of passing HIV to your baby than a vaginal delivery. If your HIV test result comes back positive, there are a number of things you can do to reduce the risk of passing HIV to your baby.

Normally, HIV “antibody testing” is used to determine whether an adult or child is infected with HIV. However, HIV antibody tests are not accurate in young babies. This is because HIV antibodies may be transferred from the mother to the baby, which can result in the baby having a positive HIV antibody test. However, this does not necessarily mean that the baby actually has HIV infection. For this reason, a special test that directly measures the virus itself is used to look for HIV infection in babies. If this test (called an “HIV PCR” test) is negative, it means the baby is not infected with HIV.