More and more children who were infected with HIV at birth are growing up and entering their teenage years and adulthood.

Some children’s HIV clinics now have special clinics for adolescents. These help to gradually transfer their treatment, care and support to adult HIV services. Adolescent HIV clinics can help your child adjust to living with HIV as a grown-up. They have services that can respond to the emotional and practical issues they are likely to encounter.

If there isn’t a specialist adolescent clinic, your child will be gradually introduced to an adult HIV clinic. This is likely to happen when your child is around 16 to 18. The first appointment will be a joint consultation with the paediatrician who has been looking after your child and the doctor who will be taking over their care.

Adult HIV clinics have a different environment to those offering services to children. Obviously, the other patients will all be grown-ups aged from their late teens to advanced old age.

The literature on display will be targeted at adults: there will certainly be information available about sex and how to avoid passing on HIV to sexual partners.

As HIV-positive children approach adulthood, it’s very important that they are provided with information about safe and enjoyable sex. This should include a discussion about the physical development of their body, their feelings about intimacy and relationships, and their sexual desires. It’s also important that there is a discussion of ways of preventing the transmission of HIV, especially safer sex but also through other transmission routes such as drug use.

Many parents find it difficult to talk to their children about sex, and judging the right time to do this is often tricky.

Don’t be afraid to look to the clinic staff for advice about how to talk to your child about safer sex and sexuality – they are used to discussing these issues.  Also, just talking to your child about these issues will not make them have sex, but it will help them prepare themselves for sex when the time is right.

It’s good to know that staff at your child’s HIV clinic will be able to talk through the issues with you. They may be willing to discuss sex and sexuality with your child if you feel this would be helpful.