The forum claims that passing on such diseases to a new born is a human rights violation and therefore this practice must come to an end at once. At present, the percentage of mother-to-child transmission was about 18 percent.
An HIV
-infected pregnant woman biologically passes on the virus to the child in the womb itself. Thus the newborn enters the world, already infected with the disease. The social stigma aside, life for such a child can be emotionally and physically traumatic.
HIV-free generation
“We are for testing all pregnant women for HIV so that no children can be born with the disease," said Oscar Fernandes, former labour minister and the present head of the Parliamentary Forum on HIV and AIDS.
"The new born should not suffer lifelong without committing any sin. Why should they suffer? Isn't it a human rights violation?" questioned Fernandes.
According to official records, there are close to 2.5 million people in India who have tested positive for the dreaded HIV virus.
Fernandes has already discussed the matter with UNAIDS executive director, Michel Sidibe, Thursday.
Echoing Fernandes’ thoughts, Sidibe said, “India must produce a generation without HIV. This is possible if we go for detecting the virus in every single pregnant woman before delivery."
Involvement of government organizations
Sifibe also highlighted the responsibility of the political leadership in ensuring the achievement of the goal of HIV prevention, care and treatment.
Fernandes noted, "You know, institutional delivery in India happens in around 50 percent of the cases. Here we have to involve the panchayats."
He was confident that the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), an initiative taken by the health ministry to promote institutional delivery among the poor, will help in the implementation of the mandatory HIV test initiative also.
"If we detect HIV before the institutional delivery, it will curb HIV spread. You will see it soon," Fernandes opined.
The initiative draws criticism
Critics of the initiative aver that women in India contract HIV when they have unprotected sex with their husbands or the primary male partner.
The scheme of the Parliamentary Forum on HIV and AIDS makes it mandatory for the woman to undergo a test. It is silent about what to do with the men who infected the women in the first place.
Mandatory testing of anyone is a human rights violation especially when it focuses on women alone, claim the critics.
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