Sexual and reproductive behavior of women with HIV infection.

Abstract

The care of HIV-infected women extends beyond viral suppression and the prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections. To optimize both the quality of care and to reduce the risk of HIV transmission in the community the provider must be aware of the patients sexual risk behaviors and should have an understanding of how to help reduce the frequency with which these behaviors occur. This article describes knowledge about sexual and reproductive behavior in HIV-positive women and as summarizes knowledge about the social and psychological context of this behavior. Women with HIV have the same motivations for engaging in sexual behavior and the same barriers in implementing consistent condom use as do those who are at risk for the disease. They also may have additional concerns about implementing safe sexual behavior that are specific to the disease such as fears of partner violence as a function of disease disclosure. For these reasons it is important to understand the prevalence of these risk behaviors and to address them to the extent possible within the clinical setting. Several useful approaches are included.