Many doctors fail to tell women living with HIV that having an undetectable viral load dramatically reduces their risk of transmitting HIV, according to a new report released Thursday.
The study, conducted by the advocacy group Positive Women’s Network-USA (PWN-USA), found that out of 180 women surveyed, 38% were not told by their doctors that HIV viral load suppression can minimize the risk of HIV transmission. This is despite a growing body of research showing that effective antiretroviral therapy, pre-exposure prophylaxis (or PrEP) and reproductive health advancements “have made having sex and building families safer, easier and less expensive” for women living with HIV, states the report, which was released on National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.
“They’re not teaching treatment as prevention,” said PWN-USA board member Evany Turk, one of the study’s researchers.
Researchers also discovered that women 44 years old or younger living with HIV did not receive adequate sexual and reproductive healthcare. Of those respondents of reproductive age, only 40% said their doctors had asked in the past year if they needed birth control, while only about 39% said they were asked if they wanted to get pregnant.
These statistics haven’t changed much over the last three years. A sexual and reproductive healthcare study conducted by PWN-USA in 2013 found that 46% of women said their doctors didn’t tell them about the link between viral load suppression and transmission risk. And 48% of women said their doctors never asked if they had or wanted to have children.