Former Minister of Communications under the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama administration, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah has thrown a subtle jab at Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin over his proposition for parliamentary and presidential aspirants to undertake compulsory HIV/AIDS test.
According to the trained medical doctor, Bagbin should have in the same accord proposed for the inclusion of mental examination for candidates seeking to be flagbearers or lawmakers in the country.
“Hon Bagbin on Compulsory HIV test, why not add Mental State Examination (MSE) too? He quizzed on his Facebook page in a post sighted by MyNewsGh.com.
It would be recalled that MyNewsGh.com reported at the weekend propositions by the Nadowli-Kaleo, lawmaker to Parliament to consider making HIV testing a compulsory requirement for those aspiring to be MPs or Presidents.
The NDC lawmaker who has been known lately for kicking against a huge filing fee by his party made these remarks as part of his contributions to a discussion on the floor of the House to mark World AIDS Day in Parliament.
“…We have to include it as part of the qualification of a Member of Parliament; that before you go to stand an election, you go for an HIV test, and so should it be for all presidential aspirants,” Mr. Babgin said.
He didn’t elaborate further.
HIV prevalence among Ghanaian youth increases
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has revealed that the prevalence rate of HIV has increased by 0.5% among the active adolescent reproductive class of the Ghanaian population in 2017alone.
This was made known during the observation of World Aids Day in Bolgatanga by the Upper East Regional Deputy Director of Public Health, Dr. Josephat Nyuzaghl.
The first day of December every year since 1988, is a day dedicated to raising awareness of AIDS endemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died of the disease.
This year’s World Aids Day is on the theme “know your status ” with a 90-90-90 campaign which aims to diagnose 90% of all HIV positive persons, provide anti-retroviral therapy for 90% of those diagnosed and achieve viral suppression for 90% of those treated by 2020.
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