Kumasi, Oct 23, GNA - Participants at a day's national seminar on the HIV-AIDS disease have expressed resentment at the insistence on "mandatory test" by some churches before allowing their members to marry. They said this must be stopped and that the decision to know one's HIV-AIDS status must be left entirely in the hands of the individual. The participants said situation where church leaders were unable to keep the test findings secret but revealed it to their congregation created problems of stigmatization for those with the infection. They therefore called on the people to refuse to be bullied into doing something that they are not prepared for, adding that, it is also unethical for medical professionals to release confidential information on patients to churches.

The Ghana AIDS Commission must therefore work in conjunction with the Ghana Medical Association and the Ghana Registered Nurses Association to ensure compliance with the National AIDS Policy of 2004. Additionally, they advocated the passage of a law against widowhood inheritance - the practice of replacing a deceased wife with a sister, to safeguard the interests of women.

Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Centre (GSHRDC), a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) were the organizers with sponsorship from Womakind World and Department for International Development (DFID) all of the United Kingdom (UK), Comic Relief and African Women Development Fund. It provided the platform to brainstorm on the vulnerability of women to the disease infection and brought together people from all over the 10 regions.

Mrs. Dorcas Coker-Appiah, the Executive Director of GSHRDC, said women who are into polygamous marriages were more susceptible to the virus and appealed to such women to go for voluntary counselling and testing. She called for more financial support for people living with the virus to enable them to earn some income to look after themselves and their families or buy drugs vital for their survival.