Many women find out that they are HIV-positive while being screened during antenatal care or even at the time of delivery.
In places where HIV counselling and testing services are not widely available or used, antenatal care may be the only place where HIV testing is available. This is likely to become increasingly true as the new WHO/UNAIDS guidelines on PITC recommend that, in generalized HIV epidemics, antenatal, childbirth and post- partum health services are the most important health facilities for the implementation of PITC. In addition to the concerns raised by testing in this context, the manner in which the test result is delivered by the service provider and the extent of support offered to women with a positive diagnosis services need to recignise that women also have to assimilate information about what this status means for them, their partner and their unborn child, consider disclosure to family and friends and decide whether or not to continue with their pregnancy. This decision may depend heavily upon how each woman weighs the condition of her life as well as the support systems she has in place.