BY SOLA OGUNDIPE

THE National Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA, has refuted reports insinuating that the new National HIV/AIDS Prevention Plan compels intending couples to carry out mandatory HIV test, as a precondition for marriage.

In the refuttal, Chief Communications Officer, NACA, Mrs Toyin Aderibigbe, said the new National HIV/AIDS Prevention Plan did not have any part that stipulated or recommended compulsory HIV testing for intending couples or any group or individuals.
“We wish to clarify that, no part of the newly developed National HIV Prevention Plan stipulates or recommends compulsory HIV testing for intending couples or any group or individuals.

“The national HIV prevention Plan is essentially a strategic document designed to provide direction for HIV prevention programming in the country.  It focuses on ensuring that the prevention priorities and goals set by the country and the President’s comprehensive response plan, PCRP, are achieved,” Aderibigbe noted.
She recalled that following a stakeholders meeting to validate content of the National Prevention plan, Director of Bauchi State Agency for the Control of AIDS, BASACA,  Dr Yakubu Abuabakar, was allegedly quoted to have said an intending couple would be made to undergo compulsory HIV test before getting married.