Survival means new risks - FYI - early sex education needed for teenage HIV patients - Author Abstract

Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, May-June, 2003 by Dore Hollander

With highly active antiretroviral therapy prolonging the lives of people with HIV, growing numbers of teenagers who were infected at birth will become sexually active and conceive. The first available data on such young people--eight Puerto Rican women who had a total of 10 pregnancies in 1998-2002--suggest that they need to learn early in life about their infection and about how to reduce sexual risk. (1) On average, the women had been told their HIV status at age 13; half were sexually active by the time they were 15, and half conceived by age 17. During interviews in 2002, when they were aged 15-22, six women reported having had multiple partners; two said they had had a sexually transmitted disease before conceiving. While five reported always discussing HIV with partners, only two said they used condoms consistently. Five women had not intended to conceive; two had been using condoms for birth control. Compared with these eight women, a similar group who had never been pregnant had learned of their HIV status slightly earlier and had become sexually active somewhat later; five women in the comparison group, but only two of the others, had discussed sexual activity, pregnancy or contraception with a family member. Altogether, 10 desired more reproductive health information. Analysts urge the development of "appropriately tailored health interventions" for teenagers who were infected with HIV at birth.

(1.) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pregnancy in perinatally HIV-infected adolescents and young adults-Puerto Rico, 2002, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 2003, 52(8): 149-151.

FYI is compiled and written by Dore Hollander, executive editor of Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health.