Mugabe's mandatory HIV testing 'against human rights'

HIV/AIDS activists have slammed the proposal by President Robert Mugabe to make HIV testing mandatory, saying it would be a gross violation of the human right to freedom of choice.

Mugabe last month suggested the implementation of mandatory testing as part of efforts to curb the disease. The President said this at a Sadc meeting in Malawi.

Speaking at the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) symposium on HIV, Law and Human Rights which ended on Tuesday, the organisation's programmes manager Tinashe Mundawarara said mandatory testing was a violation of human rights.

"It goes without saying that mandatory testing goes against the fundamental human rights (and) freedom of people in terms of issues of privacy, confidentiality, autonomy, et cetera. So it's not something that is advisable in my opinion because it is in violation of human rights. Given that premise, it is not a plausible national policy," Mundawarara said.

Tendai Kateketa (formerly Westerhof), an HIV and Aids activist, said mandatory testing would have negative repercussions on the National Budget.

"Mandatory testing might not be the answer unless we look at the other elements. If we say people should get mandatory testing, do we have treatment for the people who are in urgent need of treatment because if you look at the moment with the new WHO (World Health Organisation) guidelines that are there, we still have a backlog of a lot of people who need treatment?" Kateketa argued.

"It also has a lot of budgetary implications. Do we have the capacity as a country to test everyone and to put everyone on treatment?"

MDC-T Bulawayo East Member of Parliament Tabitha Khumalo said Mugabe's call for mandatory testing would set the pace for policymakers in the region.

"The President of this country was at Sadc in Malawi and he made a suggestion that there has to be mandatory testing for HIV and Aids and remember that whatever is said by a leader is a pacesetter. Basically, now everyone in Sadc believes that there has to be mandatory testing," Khumalo said.

However, principal director for Aids and TB programmes in the Ministry of Health Owen Mugurungi argued that Mugabe had said there should be universal as opposed to mandatory testing. He said universal testing meant that everyone would have easier access to HIV and Aids testing.

"The President never said there should be mandatory testing. He said there should be universal testing," Mugurungi said. "We need to define the objectives when we say go and get tested. We want people to know early about their HIV status. It doesn't stop there. The next thing is what do they do after they know their HIV status? My point is that as a ministry, we will not advocate for mandatory testing, but we will advocate for universal testing."