Fertility Preferences of Women Living with HIV in the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana.

This study sought to determine fertility preferences and their predictors among women living with HIV. A survey of 295 women aged 18 to 49 years living with HIV, and attending two HIV/AIDS clinics in the Kumasi metropolis, was conducted between July and August 2012. We administered questionnaires, and retrieved records of clinical status for review. We conducted multiple logistic regressions with fertility preference as the dependent variable. Fifty-eight percent of the respondents desired to have a child. The desire to have children was associated with age ≥ 40 years (AOR 0.25; 95% CI: 0.06-1.00), parity > 3 (AOR 0.07; 95% CL: 0.01-0.78), those that responded that their HIV status did not affect fertility preference were more likely to desire a child (AOR 4.37; 95% CI: 1.28-14.95) and those whose partner's did not desire to have children were less likely to desire to have children (AOR 0.06; 95% CI: 0.02-0.18). Most of the respondents do not discuss their fertility preferences with healthcare providers. Policy makers should protect the health of women living with HIV by putting in place counselling and support services with regular antiretroviral medications. If implemented, this has the potential to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV.