Groups Call for Mandatory HIV Testing
The Herald (Harare)
NEWS
March 3, 2006
Posted to the web March 3, 2006
Harare
http://allafrica.com/stories/200603030585.html
SOME lobby groups have called on Government to make HIV testing compulsory for all children going for Form One as well as couples just about to get married.
This, they say, would ensure that children's status was known before they became sexually active and that no one entered the marriage union ignorant of their status.
The Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr David Parirenyatwa, said pressure was coming from all directions to ensure that this compulsory testing was conducted without regard to individual objection.
"The lobby groups are saying before a marriage certificate can be issued, one's HIV test results should be produced.
"They are also saying before our children can progress to Form One, their status should be known," he said.
This is probably coming on the back of an increase in the number of HIV positive children, some barely in their teens.
There are now documented cases of HIV-positive students going as far as Advanced Level without knowing their status.
Such students may unknowingly transmit HIV to their partners.
In the past it was rare for an HIV positive child to live beyond the age of five, but the advent of anti-retroviral treatment has changed that.
Dr Parirenyatwa, however, said Government would not allow this to occur anytime soon.
Compulsory testing of anyone would lead to stigma and discrimination of those found to be positive.
Testing of pupils before enrolment into Form One, for instance, would see some schools begin to screen children based on their sero-status.
Some parents might even want to know whether there were any HIV positive children in a certain school before enrolling their children.
While knowing one's sero-status was a good thing, the minister said Government's policy would ensure that this remained voluntary.
"Yes, we want people to know their status. That is the reason we have counselling and testing services throughout the country and that is why pregnant mothers are advised to test when they go for antenatal visits.
"We do this because we want them to know their status and safeguard their unborn babies from HIV infection by going under the Prevention of Parent-to-Child Transmission Programme (PPTCT).
"Testing a child for HIV, however is the choice of a parent and can never be forced," Dr Parirenyatwa said.
Under PPTCT, pregnant women are given the drug Nevirapine while in labour and the drug is also administered to babies to minimise chances of mother-to-child transmission.
In other countries one has to have a medical examination before being issued with a marriage certificate.
Of late, talk about mandatory testing has become common with some churches and non-governmental organisations openly calling it the only option left to ensure that new infections are reduced
Some groups have even said by making HIV testing compulsory, it would be possible to erect a gap between those already infected and the uninfected with the intention of ensuring that the two groups never mix, thereby creating an Aids-free generation.
