Impact of HIV status on attitudes toward fertility among women living with HIV/AIDS in Karnataka, India

Abstract The purpose is to examine HIV/AIDS impact on fertility attitudes among women living with HIV/AIDS in a high HIV prevalent district in India. We used data from a cross-sectional survey conducted among randomly selected currently married HIV positive women, 15–29 years of age. As high as 68% of the women who are living with HIV/AIDS do not want to have another child. Surprisingly, about 17% of the women have never given birth to a child, and 43% among them do not want to have any children. Irrespective of age, education, occupation, place of residence, and caste, the above pattern remained the same. The main reason is that the respondents are afraid of HIV transmission to the baby while delivering. Hence, decision makers should develop strategies to enhance the capacity of the concerned service providers and greater accessibility and utilization of the services to the women living with HIV/AIDS.