The pattern is alarming because it means they are having unprotected sex, and risk passing on the virus to their unborn children and uninfected partners.
According to a team of medical researchers, the powerful desire to have children in such unions in Kenya is so overwhelming for such couples that it far outweighs the risk of infecting the unborn child.
Uninfected partner.
“This is a serious challenge in a country with an estimated 340,000 discordant couples most of whom have strong desires to have a first or a next child,” says Kenneth Ngure of Jomo Kenyatta University.
The team, which included researchers from Kenyatta National Hospital and the University of Washington, US, investigated 18 discordant couples attending a HIV research programme in Thika, Central Kenya.
The couples were participating in a study where the uninfected partner was put on a daily antiretroviral pill to see whether having the medication in the bloodstream would protect them against infection.
During the trials, Dr Ngure explains, all participants received counselling on how to reduce the risk of HIV infection, free condoms, and had access to contraceptives.
“Although most of the couples were aware of the increased risk of virus transmission, almost all reported that they had intentionally become pregnant and that the desire for children superseded any HIV risk considerations,” said Ngure.
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