HIV screening during pregnancy. Results of 2 attitude surveys on antenatal HIV screening in Belgium.

Two postal questionnaires were sent to Belgian gynaecologists in order to have information on their current policy of antenatal HIV screening. Of the 815 contacted, 446 (54.7%) completed the first questionnaire. 91.0% offers HIV testing in pregnancy; 49.1% to all pregnant women and 41.9% only to those with behavioural risks. Only 6.5% never offers HIV testing during pregnancy. The majority of these gynaecologists (79.8%) never had to deal with the problem of HIV-seropositivity in a pregnant woman. A second questionnaire with more detailed questions about HIV testing was sent to the identified respondents of the first survey. 237 of 340 (69.7%) responded. Of those, 48.9% perform HIV testing without informing the patient, whereas 43.4% always inform their patients before HIV testing. The majority performs the test at the first antenatal consultation (73.5%; 14.9% offers the test twice. These findings let us conclude that there is a need for recommendations concerning the policy of antenatal screening and information of patients.