The Ekiti State Government is working on a law that will ban places of worship from forcing prospective couples to go for HIV/AIDS test before conducting marriages.
The law would also make it an crime to expose the results of such test to other parties before the person tested knows his or her status.
Dr. Charles Doherty who is the Project Manager of Ekiti State Action Committee on AIDS, was the one that made this known in Ado Ekiti on Thursday during the commemoration of year 2014 Worlds Aids Day and awareness programme with the theme: ‘Stigma ends with me.’
“The bill is already in the state House of Assembly to be passed into law. It proposes to ban places of worship from demanding HIV test from prospective couples.
“It is illegal for any individual or organization, especially religious bodies, to mandate people to go for HIV/AIDs screening exercise. The results should be given to the individual concerned. A married couple should be treated individually.”
Doherty urged people not to be scared of going for screening as there were drugs for the treatment.
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