Pre-marital HIV test?? wow..what a thought to divide the world in two sections - have HIVs and Haven't HIVs. isn't it? The great divide it will be and will destroy every difference existing in the world. You are either HIV or non-HIV. it doesn't mean you are rich, poor, Christian, Muslim, Jews, Hindus, Americans, Indians, Britishers... Great going...

yash is correct, Its bad idea to divide the world by making the test compulsory for all before marriage. You can't force anyone to check his HIV status. Just imagine a person is going for HIV test even when he hasn't touch a girl in his life. Isn't it so funny?

In my opinion, mandatory HIV-test may help curbing HIV/AIDS spread, but only to a certain extent, as it’s a concept like a shattered rampart, where HIV virus may creep in easily. The basic reason why I don’t go in favor of the mandatory test is that it may serve as an restraint only if you are unmarried so far. However, once you get into espousal relation, there is no guarantee that your life partner won’t catch this virus, from somewhere and blow it inside you. Isn’t it? however, considering it as a panacea against HIV/AIDS spread would be just like hoping snowfall in the scorching summer!

@ rekha
Can some body tell me here that what it will do after all??? In India where more than half of the population is illiterate and where there are lack of health facility, how long will it take, I wonder, for Govt. to provide these facilities at every nook and corner of the nation. Secondly, for AIDS there is only one potential weapon and that is awareness, until and unless people will not know what AIDS is and what are its results, it’s a futile exercise to do anything or that genre.

Will premarital HIV testing work? Is this not an invasion to privacy? If one of the partners is found to contain HIV, what’s the next move?

What about people who engage in promiscuous sexual exercise out of marriage? Many are still engaging in it for fun or simply as practice relationship. What can we do about them?

Strengthening education campaign against HIV is better rather than screening those who has it. It is halfway to the solution but its effectiveness has yet to be tested.

You all on the other side did not tell me about the privacy. Will this be taken in to consideration??? Will both parties in the pre marital HIV test stick to the fundamental human right for privacy?? Well I doubt, it won’t be intact once disclosed.

Before arguing, do you people know this?

The commonly used test for detecting the virus is ELISA and it only detects antibodies. Here what I mean is up to three months after infection the test is not able to pick up antibodies. And the implication this would be – a person who is HIV positive will show a negative result despite being positive. Now you can imagine the scenario. And after the nod form doctors the couple gets married, and the results are catastrophic. The woman gets pregnant and a test is conducted… She tests positive, if done in time, child can be protected, otherwise you know the result. Therefore, who is to blame for spreading the infection? All that the pre-marital test will do is give a false sense of security to both the state and the couple.

In theory they should but I would like to oppose them, at least in India, for cultural and social considerations. I’m afraid that weaker sex would be forced into such tests while males would sail through without any. The onus would fall on bride to prove she’s not infected and males would enjoy yet another way to assert their supremacy in an already tilted society.

The situation would be more favorable if these are either legally enforced - for both the sexes that is. Or if two parties go in voluntarily without any compulsion on either side.Otherwise I’m afraid this would just become yet another reason for rejecting a bride.
The costs involved in intervention may be significantly more but the social stigma that’ll result from failure is a point worth giving careful consideration to.

let me tell you one thing ppl… there are more than 30 states in the US that considered HIV pre-marital testing and rejected the idea. And here it will work, to be very frank, I am doubtful. Lastly, as a citizen of this country and a woman, the last thing I want is the government in my bedroom- if today they have the right to legislate on this issue, then who will to stop them from deciding whom we should have sex with and when.

hey! How about those who get married after two children????????