Confidentiality and Ethical Issues Involved in Counselling for HIV Testing among Women of Reproductive Age: An Experience in a PMTCT Site in Mumbai, India

Emily Das, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Rekha G. Daver M.D., Grant Medical College
Naval G. Daver, Grant Medical College

Majority of the Mother to Child Transmission of HIV occurs during labour; breastfeeding increases the risk by 14%. Untreated, about 20-40% of children will become HIV positive. In a recent study conducted at JJ Hospital, NACO-PMTCT Center of Excellance, short regime AZT (Phase-1) and single dose NVP regimen (Phase-2)offered to pregnant women after voluntary HIV testing and counseeling. In this PMTCT site an attempt was made to explore retrospectively HIV-infected pregnant women's experience with HIV testing, counselling and issues of confidentiality and privacy.A qualitative paradigm using grounded theory approach based on in-depth interviews was adopted. 119 HIV-infected women were purposefully selected along with 26 health care providers. The anaylsis of the paper was mainly concentrated on HIV testing and counselling with its strengths and weaknesses on various issues such as disclosure,pregnancy continuation and termination, infant feeding options, contraceptive advice which are specifically applied in the context of general antenatal care.