The Pregnancy Experience Among Women With HIV: A Literature Review

Abstract

The 2018 UNAIDS data showed that 36.9 million people live with HIV. Of these, 4,400 cases found among adults (> 15 years old) and nearly 43% were women. In Sub-Saharan Africa, it was estimated that 24% of maternal deaths during prenatal or postnatal care were associated with HIV. Therefore, clinical attention is highly required during pregnancy and after delivery, particularly for those who are infected or at greater risk of HIV. This study aimed to determine pregnancy experience among women with HIV. PubMed and Proquest were used to search relevant articles from 2015-2018 by typing the keywords: "pregnant HIV" OR "pregnancy HIV" OR "HIV pregnancy" OR "HIV pregnancy" AND “experience”. The inclusion and exclusion criteria was determined through: Population, Exposure, Outcome and Study Design (PEOS) framework, PRISMA flow diagram, data extraction and CASP, and mapping the findings. Of 378 selected articles, 7 articles were found to be relevant with the study objective. Using qualitative designs, the articles discussed the disclosure of HIV status that remained hidden. This was due to lack of courage, high level of violence, negative stigma in community and lack of support from health practitioners in providing information about HIV during pregnancy. Support from family and peers can prevent HIV transmission from pregnant women to their fetus. Pregnant women with HIV can still expect that their pregnancy will be healthy and no HIV transmission to their newborn. Disclosure of HIV status remains be fear and concern. However, positive support from family, community and health practitioners can motivate pregnant women with HIV to improve their health.

Keywords

• hiv
• hiv pregnancy
• hiv experience