The Opposition Forum for Democracy & Development (FDD) has become the first prominent voice to oppose the announcement HIV testing will be mandatory.
The announcement was made by President Edgar Lungu on Tuesday that HIV Testing, Counselling and Treatment is now Compulsory in Zambia in all government run health facilities.
But FDD spokesperson Antonio Mwanza says mandatory HIV testing is unethical and a violation of human rights.
“Mandatory HIV testing is unethical as it violates human rights; it violates the privacy and bodily integrity of persons and is actually detrimental to public health as it is counterproductive as many people would shy away from health centres for fear of being forced into testing against their will.
“No one, not even a government has the right to force someone to take a test they don’t want to. People must take a conscious decision to either take the HIV test or not,” Mwanza.
However, Lungu already made it clear that the development is official Government policy and that there is no debate about it.
The new policy measure is in response to Government’s HIV agenda of ending HIV by 2030.
