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President defends AIDS testing

    JOHANNESBURG

    Foreign criticism of routine HIV testing is hampering Botswana's efforts to treat people living with HIV/AIDS, according to Botswana President Festus Mogae.

    Apart from making available a free anti-AIDS drug programme, in October 2003 the country announced an initiative that provides HIV tests as part of routine medical checkups in public and private clinics.

    Although some in the US and Europe have lauded Mogae for supporting a national programme to provide free drugs, others have said the testing policy "smacks of forced testing and violates the public's human rights and right to privacy," the Washington Times reported.

    Mogae responded by saying: "Because of the criticisms and apprehensions that were expressed, we have to prescribe an elaborate procedure for offering routine testing, so we are covering fewer people than we had hoped in order to accommodate the critics ... We are making progress, but slower than we had hoped."

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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