A survey of the sexual and reproductive health of HIV-positive women in Leicester

Abstract

This project reports results from a questionnaire survey of sexual practices, contraception use and pregnancy plans in HIV-positive women in Leicester, UK, in order to establish the need for a dedicated sexual and reproductive health (SRH) clinic. The majority (96%) of women were aware of the benefits of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in pregnancy and 39% were planning a future pregnancy. Most (74%) used condoms consistently but their use decreased with the addition of another contraceptive method. Condoms were mostly obtained from non-National Health Service (NHS) settings. Long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) use was higher in this group of women than the general population and mainly provided by family planning services. A dedicated SRH clinic was thought to be useful by 79% of women. Data also identified some limitations of the existing service and need to provide holistic and integrated care.

Women living with HIV still lack highly effective contraception: results from the ANRS VESPA2 study, France, 2011

“…The messages promoting dual method protection might be perceived as ambiguous, as illustrated by the lower use of condoms with a nonpositive partner by women using highly effective contraception. Such findings are consistent with previous studies [12,24,36] and emphasize the need for sexual health counseling to address both contraception and protection against HIV transmission and STIs' issues.…”

The ‘Antiretrovirals, Sexual Transmission Risk and Attitudes’ (ASTRA) Study. Design, Methods and Participant Characteristics

“…However the overall response rate (questionnaires received) was 64% of eligible patients approached. This value is comparable with other surveys taking place outside the clinical context that have investigated sexual behaviour (70% - [20]; 65% - [43]), but lower than some previous HIV-clinic based pen and paper questionnaires some of which achieve values above 70% [19] [42] [44] [45]. It should be noted that the 1854 non-responding eligible patients were made up of 912 direct refusals to participate and 942 consenting participants who took a questionnaire away but did not return it (approximately 18% of eligible patients in each case).…”

Profile of the patients attending in ICTC, RIMS, Ranchi

“…The HIV/AIDS infection is a global pandemic and a profound impact on the health and economic conditions of individuals and people living with HIV/AIDS are faced with the task of maintaining optimal health status despite an increasing insult to their immune status [1]. The number of AIDS patients is rising day by day with about 34 million people affected worldwide (at the end of 2010) [2].…”