Fertility treatment helps HIV-positive couples conceive safely

While the treatment of infertility in HIV-infected couples will probably always be controversial, Vitalab Fertility Clinic's Dr Merwyn Jacobson says that the use of anti-retroviral therapy means people infected with the virus can lead relatively normal, healthy lives. “With effective treatment, the condition today can better be described as a chronic illness, with patients leading a good quality of life,” explains Dr Jacobson. “We believe that everybody has the right to have their own children if that is what they want, and we can help them achieve this dream without compromising the health of their partner or the baby. We individualise infertility treatment to enable infected couples to conceive safely and give birth with a minimal risk of cross-infection.”

Without interventions, there is a 20 - 45% chance that an HIV-positive mother will pass the infection on to her child (www.avert.org). But mother-to-child transmission of HIV can be minimised. With a combination of antiviral therapy, caesarean section and not allowing the newborn to be breast fed one can reduce the risk of infection to less than one in 50. “Many women with treated HIV or in a relationship with somebody who is HIV positive still want to have children. Around two million children in sub-Saharan Africa live with HIV, many of whom became infected with the disease either during pregnancy or through breastfeeding. It is a human right to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.”

Vitalab takes a very responsible approach when it deals with HIV couples, which goes above and beyond current legislation requiring separate HIV laboratories where procedures such an in-vitro fertilisation can be done. Dr Jacobson explains that couples undergo intensive reproductive counselling to examine the strength of their relationship, how to manage the illness and the implications of the disease for family formation, and the counselling also explores the consequences of losing a partner at a young age.

For more information on fertility treatment for HIV-infected couples, go to www.vitalab.com.