Kenya: Pregnancy Risk for HIV Women. 1/7/10

Women with advanced HIV infection who get pregnant are putting their lives and those of the unborn child in danger

AllAfrica

Nairobi — Women with advanced HIV infection who get pregnant are putting their lives and those of the unborn child in danger, new scientific evidence shows.

Infected women are opting to have children because of longer and better quality lives promised by antiretroviral drugs.

However, a study carried out at the Kenyatta National Hospital says those with advanced infection are at high risk of dying or losing their babies.

In an article in the East African Medical Journal, researchers from the University of Nairobi and the KNH say they observed 68 pregnant women with advanced infection and a similar number who were HIV negative for 32 weeks.

The infected women were found to have higher chances of premature births, inflammation of foetal membranes and sexually transmitted diseases.

Infant mortality

"Syphilis is a major cause of infant mortality and mothers with advanced HIV infection appear to be affected more by the disease," the study says.

The researchers reported six maternal deaths in the group and none among the uninfected. Three infected women died of tuberculosis, two of meningitis and one of pneumonia.

More than half the infants born to mothers with advanced infection had low birth weight and general health status.

An earlier study in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Cote d'Ivoire, Zambia, Malawi and South Africa showed a sharp rise of pregnancies among women on ARVs.

Nearly a third

In Kenya, the study found that of the estimated 1.5 million who get pregnant annually, about 100,000 are HIV positive.

The study published in the Journal of Medicine observed the women over four years and found that nearly a third on ARVs had experienced a pregnancy.

"The chance of pregnancy increased in women on drugs to 80 per cent greater than those who were not." The study attributed this to the hope in women that ARVs would make them live longer.