Family planning needs of women living with HIV in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Nicaragua

Preventing unplanned pregnancies among women living with HIV (WLH) is one of the four components of WHO's recommended comprehensive approach to avoid new HIV infections among infants and young children. This project describes the current family planning needs of WLH in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Nicaragua (the first two among the countries with highest HIV prevalence in Latin America and the Caribbean) , and the degree to which health facilities are equipped to adequately satisfy these needs. Data for this project comes from interviews with 206 WLH receiving care in integral care units in the Dominican Republic (156) and Haiti (50), and a focus group discussion with 13 WLH in Nicaragua, and interviews with health providers. Results show that the majority of the women interviewed had children and wanted to limit their fertility definitely, but many of them were not using contraception. Results also show that even when many of these women reported that they were not using a contraceptive because they did not have a stable partner, they recognized having unprotected sexual relations in the recent past.