The risk of your baby contracting HIV is reduced if you have a planned caesarean (surgical) delivery. This is called an‘elective caesarean’ and is scheduled to take place during the 38th week of pregnancy, but will be performed sooner if your labour begins early. Taking anti-HIV drugs during caesarean delivery reduces the risk of you passing on HIV to your baby to very low levels. However, as with all surgery, caesarean delivery carries some risk, which should be talked through with you before you agree - give consent - to the procedure.

You are strongly recommended to have a caesarean if you have a detectable viral load, or the only anti-HIV drug you took during pregnancy was AZT.

If your viral load has been consistently below 50 copies/ml then you should be able to have an actively managed vaginal birth. This means that your doctors and midwife will make sure that your labour doesn’t last too long and can take other steps to reduce the risk of you passing on HIV to your baby.