Group to sponsor bill on compulsory HIV-tests for intending couples

The Kano State Agency for the Control of AIDS (KSACA) in collaboration with Kano Hisbah Board is to sponsor a bill that will compel prospective couples to undergo HIV screening before marriage.

Mr Usman Gwadabe, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of KSACA said this in a statement in Kano on Friday.

Gwadabe said that the agency’s Director-General, Dr Bashir Usman, said this when the agency’s management paid a courtesy call on Hisbah Board.

He said when the bill is drafted; the two organizations would jointly submit it to the State House of Assembly through the state Ministry of Health for enactment as a law in the state.

Usman said that the bill when it becomes law would compel intending couples to go for sickle cell and hepatitis screenings before marriage.

These would safe many lives and protect several marriages from collapse, he said.

He said that the visit was also to see how they could jointly address HIV prevalence in the state.

He said that KSACA would take the campaign against HIV with medical strategy while Hisbah would attack it from the faith-based angle.

He told the board that the agency had begun to collaborate with many partners on the crusade.

These partners have to be carried along in addressing key populations and risky behaviours among the citizenry, Usman said.

He said the agency would organise training for Hisbah paramedical staff to enable them acquire basic techniques of HIV Testing and Counselling (HTC).

He congratulated the board on the success of the last mass wedding it organized, especially, as it was able to identify and support y people who were HIV positive.

The Director-General of the board, Dr Abba Sufi, in his response said that the board was ready to collaborate with KSACA to address the menace.

Surfi said that the increase in HIV patients in the state should be addressed by relevant agencies.

He promised that the existing cordial relationships between KSACA and the board would be maintained.