Should HIV testing be mandatory before marriage? No

[Guest guest]

SUNDAY DEBATE: Should HIV testing be mandatory before marriage? No

Jhanavi Goswami, VP, Network of People Living with HIV

Any kind of mandatory testing is wrong. It is a violation of human

rights. It's almost similar to forced testing, and is discriminatory

in nature. How can the government even think of making HIV testing

mandatory before marriage?

Do we have the required infrastructure? In a country where its

villages and small towns don't even have decent hospitals and

laboratories, how does the government expect the people to get

themselves tested for HIV?

Even the expenditure involved, Rs 5,000, for testing, is very high.

How can young couples, especially poor people, afford it?

Besides, there is no proper code of conduct for carrying out these

tests. For a little money, negative reports can be purchased, and

that will defeat the whole purpose of eliminating Aids. First, the

government has to ensure that there isn't any tampering with the

reports and only then think of going ahead with such a step.

Unfortunately, we are years away from such a reality. It may seem

ironical that being HIV-positive, I am so strongly advocating

against making the test mandatory.

But after having gone through it, I now know the real picture. And

under no circumstance will I ever ask for it to be made mandatory.

At the age of 16, when I was still in Class X, I was married to a

businessman.

Only after the marriage, did I get to know that he was HIV-positive.

I was completely unaware of the consequences and the gravity of the

situation.

When he died in 1994, the year we got married, I was already

infected and so was my unborn child. My daughter passed away soon

after. My in-laws put pressure on me to leave and I went back to

live with my parents.

Today, I am a counsellor with the AIDS Control Society in Assam. And

everyday, I meet women who have a similar story like mine. But that

hasn't changed my opinion — I don't want the test to become

mandatory.

Instead, I feel the government should consider making HIV

counselling mandatory. To-be-married couples should be encouraged to

go in for pre-marital counselling on Aids

The government can run awareness programmes whereby the entire

community is involved. In fact, all religious leaders should involve

themselves in counselling a couple. After all, more people are bound

to listen to a religious leader.

This will be the best way to make people aware and prevent Aids from

spreading. Making testing mandatory will never solve the problem.

Let's try to remove the problem from its roots.

(Jhanavi Goswami is HIV-positive)

As told to Kounteya Sinha

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1464205,curpg-

3.cms