BACKGROUND Programs for integration of family planning into HIV care must recognize current practices and desires among clients to appropriately target and tailor interventions. We sought to evaluate fertility intentions, unintended pregnancy, contraceptive and condom use among a cohort of HIV-infected women seeking family planning services within an antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic. METHO...

OBJECTIVE Rates of pregnancy among women living with HIV (WLHIV) have increased with the availability of effective HIV treatment. Planning for pregnancy and childbirth is an increasingly important element of HIV care. Though rates of unintended pregnancies are high among women in general, among couples affected by HIV, significant planning and reproductive decisions must be considered to preven...

BACKGROUND HIV infection is linked to decreased fertility and fertility desires in sub-Saharan Africa due to biological and social factors. We investigate the relationship between HIV infection and fertility or fertility desires in the context of universal access to antiretroviral therapy introduced in 2004 in Rwanda. METHODS We used data from 3532 and 4527 women aged 20-49 from the 2005 and ...

BACKGROUND High rates of contraceptive discontinuation for reasons other than the desire for pregnancy are a public health concern because of their association with negative reproductive health outcomes. The objective of this study was to determine reasons for discontinuation of contraceptive methods among couples with different family size and educational status. METHODS This cross-sectional...

BACKGROUND The need for a high level of adherence to antiretroviral drugs has remained a major hurdle to achieving maximal benefit from its use in pregnancy. This study was designed to determine the level of adherence and identify factors that influence adherence during pregnancy. METHOD This is a cross-sectional study utilizing a semistructured questionnaire. Bivariate and multiple logistic ...

Women comprise 25% of the US HIV epidemic, with many women of reproductive age. There is a need for providers to address the reproductive needs and desires of women with HIV given that effective antiretroviral therapy has transformed HIV into a chronic disease. This cross-sectional study shows high rates of partner serodiscordance (61%) and moderate HIV disclosure to partners (61%). Patients su...

BACKGROUND As highly active antiretroviral therapy (ART) restores health, fertility and sexual activity among HIV-infected adults, understanding how ART influences reproductive desires and decisions could inform interventions to reduce sexual and vertical HIV transmission risk. METHODS We performed a qualitative sub-study among a Ugandan cohort of 1,000 adults on ART with four purposively sel...

This observational, descriptive and analytic study aimed to identify the prevalence of IPV cases among pregnant women and classify them according to the type and frequency; identify the obstetric and neonatal results and their associations with the intimate partner violence (IPV) occurrence in the current pregnancy. It was developed with 232 pregnant women who had prenatal care at a public mate...

In this article, we use newly available data from the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life (RDSL) study to compare a wide range of attitudes related to pregnancy for 961 black and white young women. We also investigate the extent to which race differences are mediated by, or net of, family background, childhood socioeconomic status (SES), adolescent experiences related to pregnancy, and curren...