Abstract:
Background: Little information exists on the desire to have children and FP use of PLHIV in
Ethiopia.
The objectives of the study were to assess and identify factors that affect the desire for children
and FP use in women living with HIV who are under care and follow up in Addis Ababa:
Methods: a cross sectional study design using quantitative qualitative methods was employed.
Results: A total of 421 study subjects were participated in the study and 10 in-depth interviews
were conducted. Significant number of individuals has a desire to have child. Out of the 421
women PLHIV, 174 (41.3%) have desire to have child/children. Having no live births and the
desire of the husband or sexual partner for having children have significant association with the
desire for children with AOR and 95% CI of 386(2.64, 56475) and 145(15.8, 1324) respectively.
After they learn their HIV status currently only 191 (45.3 %) of the respondents use FP methods,
of these 60.7% use condom while 18.3 % use Injectables. Having sex within the last six months
have association for FP use with AOR, CI, and p-value of 7.2 (2.6, 19.6), 0.00, respectively.
Conclusions and Recommendations: The high fertility desire has an important implication for
programmes to address the sexual and reproductive health needs of women living with HIV.
SRH counseling for PLHIV needs to address different factors and encourage couple counseling.
Comprehensive FP counseling and services should be available for PLHIV. Providers need to be
equipped and updated with the necessary knowledge and skill to provide the different FP
services for PLHIV. Dual method used should have to be encouraged for PLHIV for prevention
of unintended pregnancy and also for positive prevention.
