Goa government likely to make HIV test mandatory before marriage

Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Monday said the state government is planning to make the HIV test mandatory for couples before registration of marriage. The government intends to bring in a legislation for this, he told reporters Panaji.

“The plan is to make the HIV test mandatory for couples before registration of marriage in Goa,” he said. The Goa law department is vetting the proposal to make the test compulsory in the coastal state, he said.

“Once the legislation is cleared by the law department, we can introduce it in the state Assembly during the upcoming monsoon session,” Rane said. In 2006, the then Congress-led state government proposed a similar legislation which met with opposition from several quarters.

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The HIV or Human Immunodeficiency Viruses are two species of Lentivirus, which is a subgroup of retrovirus, that causes HIV infection and over time Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). As of now, the desease has no cure but recently, scientists has successfully eliminated HIV from the entire genome of lab mice using a slow-acting drug and gene-editing. 

The promising cure which could be the first giant step toward a cure for the nearly 37 million people living with the virus was revealed in Nature Communications.