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| Monday, 6 December 2004 |
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Singapore may test couples for HIV before marriage SINGAPORE, Sunday (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. |
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