TIRUCHY: While the voluntary test for HIV has been increasing nowadays owing to the awareness created from various quarters, the social activists advocate for a mandatory premarital HIV test to reduce the life risks.
K Ayyappan, a social worker, said that there still needs to be a wider awareness of such marriages. Both the inhibition-stricken bride and groom remain mute when their parents are talking about their marriage.
Fearing that social stigma could emerge on them, they try to conceal the fact that they are infected with HIV. To prevent this kind of marriage, social workers advise, there should be an individual conscience of taking premarital tests.
To add strength, parents should be enlightened about the merits of this test. But they requested the government to draft a law that mandates compulsory premarital tests to protect society.
A few HIV-infected women said, "Everyone should have an individual conscience, and we are not blaming anyone. Many people in society did not have a social conscience, and they were living with a deceiving mentality."
"There are advanced tests now in the government hospital to identify HIV positive results, and everyone should be interested and insist on having the pre-marital test so that we can achieve zero HIV positive henceforth at least," said A Thamil, Director Network for Positive People, Tiruchy.
She claimed that the awareness among the youngsters to go for an HIV test has been growing nowadays. “If this is made mandatory, it would help prevent the risk of infection or alertness among the couples to be”, Thamil added.