Thursday, March 30 , 2000
Law on compulsory AIDS test for couples coming

>From Emeka Nwankpa and Adamu Abuh, Abuja

THE Presidency said yesterday that a bill would soon be sent to the
National Assembly to make compulsory Human-Immuno Virus (HIV) tests for
intending couples. The bill will also outlaw discrimination against
people infected with the HIV virus.

In view of this, the government is already seeking the advice of the
United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and other international
agencies involved in the global campaign against the scourge on the
best possible legislation for presentation to the National Assembly.

President Olusegun Obasanjo disclosed this yesterday at the State House
while receiving the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Mr Peter Piot, who
said Dr. Jeremiah Abalaka's claim of discovering a vaccine against
HIV/AIDS cannot be accepted by the international community now until it
was scientifically proved and verified.

According to Obasanjo, the government was considering appropriate
legislation to support its on-going effort at combating the spread of
the virus in the country.

He added that the government would consider the appropriateness and
practicability of making HIV tests compulsory for couples before
marriage while drafting the anti-AIDS legislation.

He told the team which included representatives of the World Bank, the
World Health Organisation and UNICEF that he was personally alarmed at
the prevailing rate of the virus in the country which, he said, stood
at 5.4 per cent and that the cabinet committee which he headed would
coordinate an all-out national effort to check its spread.

He sought more support from the international community for his
administration's efforts against the disease, reiterating that debt
remission for the country would free some of the funds currently
devoted to debt-servicing for its multi-sectoral campaign against AIDS
through the provision of better education and health facilities.

He advocated an international summit on HIV/AIDS in Africa similar to
the Roll-Back Malaria summit which is expected to be hosted by Nigeria,
explaining that it would help to forge a global consensus on the need
for more urgent action against the devastating effects of the disease
on the continent.

Piot commended the president for personally taking charge of the
campaign against HIV/AIDS in the country, stressing that the political
will and leadership which Obasanjo was giving to the campaign must be
emulated by other African leaders for anti-AIDS efforts on the
continent to yield meaningful results.

He warned that West African countries needed to take urgent action
against the further spread of the virus to avoid replicating the severe
effects which the disease was currently unleashing on the eastern and
southern parts of the continent.

Piot, who later led a delegation of a joint mission of the UN and other
agencies related to the fight against HIV/AIDS to the National Assembly
complex, said the verification of Abalaka's claim was necessary in the
interest of the people.

"I am aware of Abalaka's claim but we have not seen any scientific
evidence that his vaccine is capable of providing cure.

"His case is a complicated case that demands rigorous effort to make
sure it is not harmful to the people. He said the treatment is
expensive and we will not support the idea of providing false hope and
collecting their money wrongfully," he said.

At a meeting with the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Chibudom Nwuche, Piot expressed concern over the spread of HIV/AIDS in
the country and called for concerted efforts to avoid its catastrophic
consequencies.

According to Piot who was accompanied by Health Minister Dr Tim
Menakaya, the government must be actively involved in public
enlightenment in relation to usage of condoms, support for HIV/AIDS
victims in collaboration with world agencies like UNICEF, World Bank,
United Nations etc.

Nwuche expressed support for the international effort against HIV/AIDS
scourge, pledging to mobilise all members of the House to embark on
disseminating information to their various constituencies to curtail
the pandemic.

He also used the occasion to call for debt cancellation, arguing that
besides relieving the country the burden of repayment, it will help in
the fight against the scourge and sustain the nascent democracy.

Menakaya enjoined the National Assembly to be part of the campaign in
containing the scourge which affects 2.5 million Nigerians, through
collaborative efforts with other arms of government and world agencies.

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