Daniela's eyes fill with tears when she talks about her six-year-old daughter Koki (not their real names). "Sometimes I look at her taking the medication and I feel sick."

Both Daniela and Koki are HIV-positive and each day they must take a mixture of medications to stay healthy enough to go to work and to school. Because Daniela did not know she was HIV-positive when she was pregnant, no precautions were taken to prevent the disease from passing from her to her infant daughter. "There are days when I just cry and keep quiet," says Daniela, who would have passed the disease to Koki during pregnancy, labour or delivery, or through breastfeeding.

The greatest tragedy in Daniela and Koki's story is that it could have been prevented. Several years ago, researchers discovered that HIV-positive women who receive treatment during pregnancy can dramatically decrease their chances of having HIV-positive infants. Since that time new treatments have been discovered and today HIV-positive women who follow the prescribed course of treatment have a 97 to 99 per cent chance of having healthy babies.

In 1998, shortly after this discovery, Ontario started offering routine HIV screening to all pregnant women and to women thinking about becoming pregnant – regardless of risk. Daniela, who immigrated to Canada from Uganda twelve years ago, never imagined she was HIV-positive. Shortly after Koki was born, she learned that she had caught the disease from her ex-boyfriend.

"Like testing for hepatitis B, syphilis and rubella, the HIV test is a routine part of prenatal care that we strongly recommend," says Dr. Stan Read, Chief, Infectious Diseases, Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. "This voluntary blood test was introduced to ensure pregnant women who are HIV-positive remain as healthy as possible during and following their pregnancies and to prevent transmission of HIV from mother to baby."

Unfortunately, despite the universal screening program, 10 per cent of pregnant women in Ontario are not being tested for HIV. As a result, HIV-infected infants continue to be born in the province.

"If I had known about the test, I would have been tested right away," says Daniela.

"Some women are declining the test because they believe they are not at risk. Others are not being offered the test by their healthcare providers," says Dr. Stan Read, Chief, Infectious Diseases, Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. "This is a tragedy because HIV-infected babies are still being born."

While Daniela and Koki face a difficult life filled with medications which come with unpleasant side effects, Daniela is not bitter towards the person who gave her the disease. However, she is set on preventing other women from falling into the same situation she did. "I just tell everyone to be tested (for HIV), because you just never know."

See also :

• HIV Testing Available Through Routine Prenatal Screening
• Treatment for HIV during Pregnancy Protects Baby from Infection
• Article : Uptake for Prenatal HIV Testing in Ontario Increases to 90 per cent

June 2004

© Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2003  |  Privacy Policy  |  Disclaimers  |   Last Modified :