WHO adjusts rules as hormone contraceptive might raise HIV risk

Feb 16, 2012, 19:34 GMT

Geneva - Women using injectable hormonal contraceptives should make sure to use condoms, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday, as it could not rule out a heightened HIV infection risk for women taking such drugs.

However, WHO stressed that it did not change its overall opinion that it was safe for HIV-infected women or those at a high infection risk to use the pill or similar products.

Several recent studies have suggested that the hormones contained in such medication might have physiological effects that make it easier for women to get infected or to pass on the virus by having sex.

WHO experts said they were mainly concerned about contraceptives that consist only of the injectable hormone progestogen.

'In considering the totality of available evidence, the group determined that currently available data neither establish a clear causal association with injectables and HIV acquisition, nor definitively rule out the possibility of an effect.'

Therefore, they recommended that 'women using progestogen-only injectable contraception should be strongly advised to also use condoms and other preventive measures.'

The UN body found the research on this issue contradictory and of low quality and said additional studies should be done.

They also said that they had weighed the wide range of medical and social benefits of contraception with the HIV risk when making their overall recommendation that women should keep using such products.

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