Prevention and conception

Routine primary care includes discussions, repeated over time, concerning prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy prevention, preconception counselling, and managing a healthy pregnancy. HIV prevention discussions might include how to minimise the risk of transmitting HIV to a seronegative partner or to an infant.

Pregnancy plans are important when choosing an antiretroviral regimen. Drugs such as efavirenz might be best avoided due to the number of unplanned pregnancies found in any population and because of the drug's teratogenic effect on foetal development in the first trimester.

Women seeking pre-conception counselling might be best referred to a provider with expertise in this area, particularly in cases where one partner is HIV-positive and the other is not.  

This content was checked for accuracy at the time it was written. It may have been superseded by more recent developments. NAM recommends checking whether this is the most current information when making decisions that may affect your health.