Practical issues of compulsory HIV testing in marriages bill in AP

[Guest guest]

There are some practical issues in this regard:

The proposed bill speaks of compulsory HIV test certificate to be produced (if I understand it right) before the marriage registration. But, how many marriages in India are registered at all? My guestimate would be less than 5%. So, how do we ensure that the bride and bridegroom in all other traditional marriages (in countless villages in interior parts of the state, let alone lanes and bylanes of urban areas) have undergone the test?

(ii) If infact the bill passes, how does one ensure that the certificate a person (bride or bridegroom) produces is genuine and authentic?

(iii) who would enforce the provisions of the bill? health, police or any other departments?

On the question of privacy and rights of PLWH, one should also consider that the right to privacy ends when some one else is under risk of contracting the infection from the person who has HIV. Right to privacy is certainly not a license to transmit the infection.

Since marriage is mostly an issue of trust and faith, it may be a better idea to educate in a big, big way all the general public that similar to the age old practice of exchanging horoscopes of the bride and bridegroom, the parents should more importantly agree to exchange HIV test results of each other, (more preferably, a comprehensive medical examination) done at test centers in which the other party has trust. Infact, such a step should be completed right at the outset of the marriage proposal.

Venkat Chitta, (Dr.P.H. student, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA)

E-mail: