The Pill 'forced On' Hiv Women Before Getting Antiretrovirals

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The pill 'forced on' hiv women before getting antiretrovirals

By Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation

Published on December 11, 2009

The pill 'forced on' hiv women before getting antiretrovirals

Healthcare workers have forced women with HIV to take birthcontrol measures before they could receive lifesaving antiretroviral drugs, despite many hoping for eventual pregnancy, a recent study has revealed.

Negative perceptions of healthcare workers and the stigma surrounding people living with HIV have endured throughout the 25 years since the HIV pandemic hit Thailand in 1984, Ubon Ratchathani University social science researcher Tawatch Maneephong, said yesterday.

He was presenting his findฌings at a national conference on the stigmatisation and discrimination against people living with HIV/Aids, held to mark International Human Rights Day.

Negative attitudes towards people living with the HIV virus in Thailand stemmed from the massive and scary campaign following the virus's first appearance, with slogans such as: "You will die if infected with HIV/Aids" or " Being promiscuous means you'll be infected with HIV/Aids ," he said.

To study the consequences of such campaigns, Tawatch and his group of 13 researchers interviewed 233 people with HIV across the country for a year. All were aged between 30 to 49, and most had lived with the virus for 10 to 14 years.

A study found that 59 per cent of 148 female respondents were told by healthcare workers not to have a baby after the infection; and 28 percent were forced to accept birth control.

Researchers said 20 percent of the female participants were told they must have birth control before they could receive antiretroviral drugs at healthcare units; and nine of the women were forced to end their pregnancies.

Some 26 per cent complained that their personal medical records had been carelessly kept by hospital staff. The condition of patients with HIV was shown on outpatient cards easily accessible to the public - even though patient information is supposed to be very confidential.

"Some healthcare workers did not provide any information about pregnancy to women living with HIV. They do not want us to have a baby," a woman HIV patient told researchers.

When asked about public attitudes to HIV victims, 34 per cent of all participants said they were blocked by villagers from community activities in their villages.

About 76 percent were targeted by villagers for negative gossip and 47 per cent were physically attacked and verbally threatened, while 26 per cent were refused employment and 32 per cent lost their jobs.

Nineteen per cent of respondents said they were denied access to healthcare services. Suicide was contemplated by 39 of the 233 participants because of the stigma surrounding them.

Former senator and health activist Jon Ungpakorn criticised government officials who spread private information to the public, saying they should treat HIV victims with dignity and respect their human rights.

Participants at the conferece had access to a paper by Mark Cichocki, Registered Nurse, that said: "Years ago, if a woman was HIV positive, family planning was the last thing on her mind; HIV and pregnancy just didn't mix But the advent of HIV medications and the acceptance by physicians that HIVpositive women can get pregnant, carry the baby to term, and not pass HIV to the newborn has given these women renewed hope of family and motherhood. However, HIV and pregnancy together is not without risk. But if women work closely with their doctors, there is no reason HIV should prevent them from becoming a mother."

-- The Nation 2009/12/11

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[wasabi]

If an HIV positive mother has a child isn't the child HIV+ in spite of the claim by the article that this can be prevented? I would think birth control is a good idea. But it is sad about being stigmatized.

Edited December 13, 2009 by wasabi

[Sheryl]

The risk of mother to child transmission of HIV can be reduced to under 1% with appropriate measures.

[alyx]

If an HIV positive mother has a child isn't the child HIV+ in spite of the claim by the article that this can be prevented? I would think birth control is a good idea. But it is sad about being stigmatized.

Good idea, good idea....for whom?

The mother to be, the society or the social security?

I have no kids, don't want any, won't have any. Isn't it a woman's right (and desire of a majority of them - speculation as I am a man), to decide whether or not she can have a baby so long she knows the risks (involving of course her own death) ?

The fact that the risks are reduced to under 1% is interesting and should be relayed to eveyone, fact which should also be included in the pros and the cons, carefully weighed, but in no case should it be determinant

Some of us tend to forget that giving birth to a child comes as a second chance in life and might even give the mother the boost needed to fight the disease (of course an adverse reaction could always occur)

One might argue that a woman has to think about the life she will give to her new-born if infected: again it is her choice and certainly, if well informed, maternal instinct will prevail

Edited December 13, 2009 by alyx