The Kano State Agency for the Control of Aids has commenced a pre-marital health screening of an additional 147 prospective couples.
This was made known in a statement issued by the Information Officer of the Agency, Usman Datti, and made available to newsmen on Tuesday.
According to the statement, the Director-General of the Agency, Dr. Usman Bashir, had during an inspection of the screening, explained that the exercise was aimed at “providing medical evaluations and consultations, if necessary, to prospective couples.”
Bashir also said the objective of the screening exercise was to ensure the suitors’ medical fitness and to prevent the spread of diseases that could be transmitted through marriage.
“This is achieved through laboratory tests to identify and address any potential health issues or challenges,” the DG was quoted as saying in the statement.
The DG said the main areas of focus in the exercise included HIV testing, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C screening, Sickle Cell Genotype testing, evaluation for venereal diseases, and pregnancy testing.
He urged the prospective couples to take the exercise seriously, as the State Government had provided adequate facilities and medical personnel to ensure its smooth conduct.
He then recalled that similar exercises had been conducted for different sets of couples who recently got married under the state government’s mass wedding programme.
Earlier, the Kano government had recently sponsored and officiated the mass wedding of a total of 1,800 couples.
