According to figures published by the Public Health Laboratory Services, there are now over 8,000 women known to be living with HIV in the UK. Since 1999, heterosexual sex has been the most common route of HIV transmission in the UK, and women infected this way are the fastest growing group of newly diagnosed people. Statisticians predict a 50 per cent increase in the next five years of people living with HIV in the UK.

Positively Women was started in 1987 by two HIV positive women who were determined to set up support services specifically for women living with HIV, which would provide a safe space for women to talk openly about the challenges they faced. Today the organisation remains strongly committed to its ethos of peer support and self-help, women who are themselves HIV positive carry out all direct work with service users.

Women living with HIV face challenges which differ greatly from those experienced by their male counterparts. A lack of awareness amongst women often contributes to them presenting for HIV diagnosis at advanced stages of infection, when options for treatments and care may be limited. For some women from African communities immigration issues can be more overwhelming than the HIV itself.

Women are also usually the main carer in a family, so a woman's HIV status and susceptibility to HIV-related illness has a serious impact on the lives of the whole family.

Additionally a positive diagnosis often leads to the break up of a relationship for women - they are blamed and deserted. This is common amongst women tested antenatally especially if partner wasn't involved from the beginning. Dominant partners often refuse women to access support in case they meet friends and family. Situations sometimes escalate into domestic violence

In order to maintain health, HIV positive women have to begin treatments earlier than men. This can be a problem for women who present late for diagnosis, and the side effects of the treatments can often be difficult to fit into a woman's lifestyle. The lack of social support makes adherence difficult - for instance poor housing, asylum seekers on vouchers or shared accommodation and lack of support around children.

There is also a lack of specific research into care options and treatments for women and children and little is known about the long-term effects of therapies.

With the correct interventions, the risk of an HIV positive mother transmitting the virus to her baby is now less than one per cent. However HIV positive women who decide to have children still face a range of complex challenges.

...women don't have a choice around breast-feeding; yet formula milk is expensive and unavailable to asylum seekers on vouchers...

There are a lot of pressures for women to have children yet HIV positive women are advised never to have unprotected intercourse - including with an HIV positive partner, as this can lead to transmission of drug-resistant strains of HIV.

Women diagnosed antenatally are advised to take a combination of drugs to minimise the risk of mother to child HIV transmission, which have unpleasant side effects. Often there is no time to absorb the shocking news before deciding on complex treatments.

Women have to worry about their babies taking complex medicines (AZT and septrin are given to the baby during the first six weeks) to minimise transmission.

Caesarean section and bottle feeding are two further measures which can be taken to protect the baby from transmission but there is still a lot of stigma attached to HIV so women may have to lie to their families. Women also have to cope with not breast-feeding when it is the best food for the baby. More research needs to be carried out into ways of making breast milk from positive mothers HIV free. One company ACE InterMed has designed one such pasteuriser, but there is still no conclusive evidence it really works. This would be a break through since breast milk is best for baby and cheaper. The pasteuriser costs £50 only and could be provided on the NHS.

Women don't have a choice around breast-feeding; yet formula milk is very expensive and unavailable to asylum seekers on vouchers. This could force mothers to breast feed their babies and hence transmit the virus. The government has made a commitment to lowering the rate of HIV infection - this is one way of acting on this commitment.

HIV positive women who are able to take medication successfully are returning to work but within the confines of the HIV sector only because they have support from peers around dealing with daily medication, time off for hospital appointments for oneself and dependants who may be positive. There is a great need for HIV to be recognised fully under the Disability Discrimination Act. Employing positive people involves having good support systems in place - and a lot of education is still needed to fight stigma in the workplace.