Q: I am a HIV positive man and taking treatment for the same. I am living in another country but my wife wants me to come back home. I already have a 9-year-old son but my wife wants another child. As I am HIV positive now, how can I have sex with my wife? I will be using a condom, but what about my wife? Please suggest.

A:Is your wife HIV positive too? If she is HIV positive, she can take some medicines during pregnancy, delivery and after childbirth that are usually provided under the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV Programme in your country. These medicines coupled with certain other interventions reduce the chances of HIV infection being passed on from a HIV infected mother to the newborn baby.

However, if she is still free from HIV; there is a huge risk of her getting the HIV infection through sex with you. In that case, you will have to have sex with her only with correct and consistent use of condoms in every act of sexual intercourse. If your wife wants a baby there are certain techniques available in specialized centres that remove the HIV (virus) from the semen and sperms and then use this "washed" semen for artificial insemination. Please get in touch with a specialised infertility centre in your country.