Compulsory HIV testing before marriage is illegal

Compulsory HIV testing for prospective couples is against the National HIV and AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) policy, Professor Margaret Lartey of the University of Ghana Medical School has said.

Professor Lartey advised churches and faith-based organisations, which make such testing a condition for marrying couples, to desist from it.

Addressing a meeting to discuss the policy in Ho on Monday, she said prospective couples could, for instance, get married at the Registrar-General’s Department without having to undergo compulsory HIV testing if they do not wish to.

Prof Clara Fayorsey of the Sociology Department of the University of Ghana, Legon advised churches and faith-based organisations to stick to their roles as prescribed in the policy in dealing with HIV.

Aspects of the policy discussed were prevention and treatment, human rights legal and ethical issues and community systems strengthening, mitigation of social and economic effects of HIV and AIDS and health systems strengthening.