I’m pretty sure every woman understands the importance of being pregnant and the primary role of the father of the child as it is responsibility of both to make sure everything goes well. At least that’s my view on it. However, looks like not everyone thinks the same and again, the lack of HIV knowledge and awareness plays a big part in the play. In the case of Adrine Nuwamanya from Uganda, when the time came for her to deliver her second child, she was astonished to see that her husband refused to escort her to the hospital. Apparently, he heard from his friends that every time a husband would bring their wife to the centre, he’d be ‘taking the risk of being caught by the nurses to get HIV tested’! So with this dreadful fear in mind, he even got a friend of his to go to the hospital with her and act as the father of the baby. Some MPs of the Health Committee in Uganda have suggested the mandatory HIV testing in the country and rightly so, considering the approx. 1.5 million people infected and a million orphans due to AIDS in the country. In addition to that, 25.000 babies born in this country start their lives with the virus as there are around 190.000 children aged 0-14 currently infected. Ever since the government has tried to lower down the HIV numbers by getting men to have a test when accompanying their wives to hospital for antenatal services or delivery, these started refusing to show up and leaving their wives alone while giving birth or simply hiring boda-boda (taxi bike) riders to do the job for them.

Looks like these daddies forgot all of a sudden that these procedures are basic in order to stop the babies from coming to life infected and at last, to prevent the death of the whole family unit due AIDS.

Some people believe that this new rule is not going to work because by forcing people to get tested they’ll get the inverse reaction rather than their consent and cooperation.

In my point of view: When you live in a country where every second person has the virus, what is there to fear to get treatment? We should be grateful that the possibility exists and the sooner we know our status the better, always.

For yourself, your partner and your children, get tested.