Jigawa State Government has earmarked over 50 million naira for the purchase of kits for compulsory HIV tests before marriage.
Programme Manager, Jigawa State Agency for the Control of AIDS, Malam Ibrahim Almajiri, disclosed this while defending the agencies’ budget proposals before the House of Assembly Committee on Public Service.
He said the amount will be used for the supply of HIV/AIDs testing kits for the compulsory test of intending couples across the state.
It would be recalled that the Jigawa State House of Assembly had in 2016 signed into law making it compulsory for all intending couples to undergo test for HIV/AIDs three times before marriage is contracted.
The Law had helped Jigawa State in reducing the prevalence of HIV/AIDs from 1.9 percent in 2014 to 0.3 percent in 2018.
A 2018 Survey placed Jigawa State as a top state where the rate of HIV/AIDs is low with only 0.30 percent in the country.
