According to National Mirror Online;
The Federal Government has
said testing for HIV/AIDS is mandatory for intending couples in Nigeria.
The plan, according to government, is to help reduce new infection of
HIV virus in the country.
It added that the decision was binding
on followers of all religions. Our correspondent gathered this from
stakeholders who met to ratify the plan in Abuja yesterday. The team,
comprising National Prevention Plan Validation, emphasised the decision
was taken to prevent new infections and curb further spread of the
disease.
Speaking with reporters at the meeting, Director, Bauchi
State Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS, TB, Leprosy and Malaria
(BACATMA), Yakubu Abubakar, said there had been an improvement in the
new HIV Prevention Plan in Nigeria.
According to him, the current
plan has input of communities and stakeholders across states of the
federation and from the Federal Government.
“From the experiences
of the past plan, we realised that there were variations from state to
state in terms of prevalence rate, in terms of mode of transmission at
state levels, in terms of culture, and in terms of approach to HIV
prevention,” he said.
For the plan to be successful, Abubakar
urged Christian leaders to ensure no wedding ceremony was conducted by
them without an evidence of HIV/
AIDS test by the intending couples.
Islamic
clerics, he stated, were already being sensitised over the need to
comply with the plan. He said: “In Bauchi State, we realised that in
most of the marriages, there is no
confirmation
of HIV status. Some people marry more than once and when they are
taking second wife, even if they are negative, but meet a positive
family, or the second or third or fourth wife is coming with HIV to
meet people that were already negative and are going to become infected.”
According
to him, in polygamy, in the present plan, incoming wife is expected to
take the test along with the husband and other wives already in the
house. Responding to what happens when either of the parties tests
positive, Ibrahim said: “At the programme level, we don’t decide what to
do but the family concerned will sit down and resolve the issue
themselves.”
So if you haven’t done your HIV Test or don’t plan
to do, you may not be able to get married.Do you think it is right for
The Federal Government to make compulsory this new rule?
