Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine (Jan 2009)
The necessity of HIV testing in Iranian pregnant women and its ethical considerations
Abstract
A high number of HIV positive babies are born each year, whereas by highly effectivepreventive measures, the risk of mother-to-child transmission can be decreasedsignificantly. There are different methods (for example mandatory versus voluntary) forHIV screening in pregnant women, but there are debates on conducting HIV testing bythese methods. One of the most important issues in this field is its ethical considerations.Also its limitations cannot be ignored. According to these facts several keywords weresearched by search engines such as Web of Sciences, Medline, Google scholar, WHOwebsite. The most relevant and recent articles were chosen.Concerning the importance of vertical transmission of HIV, the role of preventivemeasures, ethical considerations, and the limitations of HIV screening, we recommendHIV testing offer to every pregnant women at the first clinic visit by providing enoughinformation for patient and considering her autonomy. Also policy makers should providea guideline for this test according to the pregnant women's autonomy, confidentiality, anddignity.www.tums.ac.ir
