Indian state plans to make Pre-Marital HIV testing mandatory

Alarmed by its high rate of HIV infection, India’s southern state of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday announced an unusual plan that makes it mandatory for couples to take a HIV test before marrying.

The health authorities in Andhra Pradesh, which accounts for 1.5 million of the country's 5.7 million HIV/AIDS cases, assert that besides preventing the virus to multiply, the move would also help keep young men from dangerous sexual behaviour before marriage.

Pre-marital sex is common among many Indian men and women, who go to prostitutes before marriage and don’t mind to continue to do so afterwards. Use of condoms is also rare.

Unveiling the state’s plan, which makes it first to take such a unique step to check the progress of HIV, the Andhra Pradesh health minister, K. Rosaiah, said, “Since condom use is not very popular, we are considering tough measures like HIV testing before registration of weddings."

“Once the law is in place, such a test will be compulsory for registration of marriage,” he added.

The state Health Ministry is planning to ask lawmakers to approve these legal reforms in the next session of the state assembly, expected to start in March.

This is not the first time Andhra Pradesh state has taken such anti HIV measures rather the state has recently launched a campaign to encourage voluntary testing under the slogan, “Be bold. Know your HIV status”.

Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the state’s chief minister and also a medical doctor himself, was among the first to be tested. Dr Reddy said he was doing so "to set an example for everybody in the state."

However, the state government’s recent plans have run into opposition from the United Nations Aids agency-UNAIDS, which contends that the provision to make the tests mandatory could not be successful as the prospective Indian spouses will simply buy fake HIV-negative certificates, which could result in serious social and health consequences for couples and their families.

"Compulsory testing will not work," UNAIDS India chief Denis Broun said.

Contrary to state health authorities, who said that compulsory tests were the only way to reduce the high rate of HIV infection within marriage, Broun said that the move is not the way forward. Rather, he suggested, the government should focus on providing free, skill-based, inspiring and refreshing pre-marriage counseling to deal with a range of issues, including health.

Out of all patients 40% would be women in this South Indian state who are carrying the infectious disease, and 80% of them are in monogamous relationships, signifying that the infected women received the virus most likely from their husbands.

Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh State Aids Control Society has welcomed the government’s proposal. “This is an attempt to say that HIV is not a problem of truckers and the lower segment of society. Anybody can be affected and everybody should be tested,” said G. Ashok Kumar, director of the Society.