Parenting and HIV: How Diagnosis may Prevent Partners from Discussing Future

Continued medical advances are helping those with HIV live longer, healthier lives.

However, the virus still presents a taboo topic for many--particularly youth's born HIV-positive who are considering taking on the role of parent.

A recent study by researchers from Royal Holloway University and St. Mary's Hospital, London, interviewed young people aged 18 to 23 who had transmitted HIV from their mothers-otherwise known as 'perinatally acquired HIV' (PAH). Though many children born with HIV in the past died in early childhood, today, they are living into adulthood thanks to advanced medicine and medical research.

Study authors found that many of the study participants wanted to become a parent. However, they were particularly concerned about discussing their diagnosis with their future children and worried about transmitting the virus to their child. In particular, the team found that a major concern among the group was regarding the effect of having a child with a partner who would accept their diagnosis.

"ti's clear that the worry to tell partners becomes even more acute when the idea of having children is brought up," lead author Dr. Michael Evangeli from the Deparment of Psychology at Royal Holloway said, via a press release. "These findings will be particularly relevant in Sub-Saharan Africa, as there are two million young people between 10 and 19, most of whom have been living with HIV since birth. For many of these young people, becoming parents is a very important part of their culture. Indeed, many of the African participants in our study mentioned the importance of culture in their decisions about having children."

Statistics from 2012 show that more than 35 million people worldwide live with HIV/AIDS, many of whom will become parents. Researchers point out the importance of communication and HIV, especially when parenting becomes involved.