The risk of you passing on HIV to your baby is reduced if it is delivered using a planned surgical delivery. This is called an ‘elective caesarean’ and is scheduled to take place in the 38th week of pregnancy, but will be performed sooner if labour begins early. Taking anti-HIV drugs during a caesarean delivery reduces the risk of you passing on HIV to your baby to very low levels. However, as with all surgery, a caesarean delivery carries some risk, and these should be fully discussed with you before you give your consent to the procedure.

You are strongly recommended to have a caesarean if you have a detectable viral load, or if the only anti-HIV drug you took during pregnancy was AZT (zidovudine, Retrovir).

If your viral load has been consistently undetectable (or very low) during pregnancy then you should be able to have a managed vaginal birth. This means that your doctors and midwife will make sure that your labour doesn’t last too long and will take action to reduce the risk of you passing on HIV to your baby.