Factors associated with desire for children among HIV-infected women and men: A quantitative and qualitative analysis from Malawi and implications for the delivery of safer conception counseling

Abstract

Improved health outcomes have resulted in people with HIV facing decisions about childbearing. We sought to understand the factors associated with desire for a child among men and women in Malawi. HIV-infected men and women ages 18–40 were invited to participate in a brief interview about fertility desires. Single variable logistic regression was used to evaluate the factors associated with the outcome of fertility desire. Additionally, multiple logistic regression was used to assess the relationship of all the factors together on the outcome of fertility desire. In-depth interviews with women were performed to understand experiences with reproductive health care. A total of 202 brief interviews were completed with 75 men (37.1%) and 127 women (62.9%), with 103 (51.0%) of respondents desiring a child. Being in a relationship (OR: 3.48, 95% CI: 1.58–7.65, p = 0.002) and duration of HIV more than two years (OR: 2.00, 95% CI: 1.08–3.67, p = 0.03) were associated with increased odds of desire for a child. Age 36–40 years (OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.46–0.90, p = 0.009) and having a living child (OR: 0.24, 95% CI: 0.07–0.84, p = 0.03) were associated with decreased odds of desire for a child. Seventy percent of women (n = 19 of 27 respondents) completing semistructured interviews who responded to the question about decision-making reported that their male partners made decisions about children, while the remainder reported the decision was collaborative (n = 8, 30%). Eighty-six percent of women (n = 36 of 42 respondents) reported no discussion or a discouraging discussion with a provider about having children. HIV-infected women and men in Malawi maintain a desire to have children. Interventions are needed to integrate safer conception into HIV care, to improve male participation in safer conception counseling, and to empower providers to help patients make decisions about reproduction free of discrimination and coercion.

Keywords:

• HIV
• fertility desires
• safer conception
• prevention of mother-to-child transmission
• reproductive health

Acknowledgments

This research has been supported by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-Malawi under the terms of Grant No. 674-A-00-10-00035-00. Funding was also provided by the UCLA AIDS Institute and the UCLA Center for AIDS Research (AI28697). We thank the patients and the providers at Partners in Hope Medical Center and Nkhoma Hospital in Malawi for their participation in the study. We are grateful to John Hamilton and the Lilongwe-based Expanding Quality Improvement for HIV/AIDS (EQUIP)-Malawi staff for providing administration and oversight for this study.