HIV/AIDS tests for students defended

The Office of the President of Botswana has defended suggestions that students sent overseas for training should be tested for the HIV/AIDS and denied training if the tests proved positive, news reports said on Wednesday. A Presidential spokesman said that one in four of the economically active population in Botswana were HIV positive. He said there was no point in sending a student for expensive training, when it was most likely that he or she would not complete the course. It was a question of realism, not human rights. The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) said the Botswana government recently had to repatriate government sponsored students with full blown AIDS at an estimated cost of US $11,000.