News: Singapore may test couples for HIV before marriage
05 Dec 2004
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SINGAPORE (Reuters) -- Couples in Singapore may face mandatory HIV tests before
marrying, Singapore media reported on Sunday, a week after the government said
all pregnant women would be screened for HIV/AIDS to stem a rise in new
infections.

Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said Singapore planned to seek public feedback on
the pre-marital HIV tests in the wealthy, tightly controlled city-state, where
the number of new HIV infections reached a record high this year.

"If you ask me as a parent, I think there is no harm. I have three girls and you
do not know what their boyfriends will be like," Khaw was quoted by The Straits
Times as telling local reporters on Saturday.

"I think we are more likely to succeed if we treat this as a purely public
health problem, so let's take away the morality and religion from all this," he
said.

Although the Southeast Asian island has one of Asia's lowest levels of HIV
infection, it is tightening defences after data from health workers showed women
and girls in Asia increasingly at risk of becoming infected with the deadly
disease.

Khaw said Singapore was at the beginning of a second wave in the development of
HIV, where more women are becoming infected. Singapore media reports have
recently focused on the problem of men visiting prostitutes while travelling in
Asia.

The number of new infections are already at a record high this year with 257
cases reported in the first 10 months of 2004, topping the 242 new cases
reported for all of 2003.

Health officials say Singapore, a tiny island of 4.2 million people, could face
1,000 new cases a year by 2010 according to current trends. To date, Singapore
has recorded a total of 2,332 HIV infections, of whom 874 have died.

Activists say AIDS awareness efforts are undermined in Singapore by antiquated
laws that make gay sex illegal between men.

Online at: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SIN247521.htm

Cross posted from: SEA-AIDS
by : A. SANKAR
Executive Director
EMPOWER