This information is intended to help you if you have been diagnosed with HIV and you are pregnant or planning to have a baby. This information tells you:

• what it can mean for you and your baby if you have HIV.
• what the guideline says about the most effective ways of:
  • treating you during your pregnancy and labour
  • protecting your baby from HIV in the womb, during the birth and in the first weeks of its life.

This information aims to help you and your healthcare team make the best decisions about your care. It is not meant to replace advice from a doctor or midwife about your own situation. It does not tell you about treatments for women with HIV who are not pregnant, about what you can do to avoid HIV infection before you are pregnant or about the continuing care you can expect after you have had your baby.

• This information was correct at the time of writing (January 2005) but this is a rapidly changing area of knowledge.
• Some of the recommendations here may not apply to you. This could be because of some other illness you have, your general health, your wishes, or some or all of these things. If you think the treatment or care you get does not match what we describe here, talk about it with your doctor or with someone else in your healthcare team.

The leaflet can be downloaded as a pdf by clicking on the link below.

• HIV in Pregnancy: information for you