Chechen Muftiyat obliges young marrieds to present AIDS-absence certificates to mullahs

The Spiritual Department of Moslems (SDM) of Chechnya has joined the struggle against spread of AIDS in the territory of the republic. Henceforth, the young people, intending to marry, should present the mullah, who registers new families according to Moslem traditions, with their medical certificates that they have no HIV-infection and AIDS-virus. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it at the republic's Muftiyat.

The clergy decided to take such radical measures in the context of recent frequent cases when young marrieds infect each other with AIDS.

"To our great regret, the problem of AIDS infection has not bypassed our republic. According to latest data, Chechnya counts 1270 patients of this 'plague of the 20th century', among them 300 women and 170 children. These are terrible figures. Physicians say that on the average every year the number of HIV-infected citizens of our republic increases by 100 persons. It is a very dangerous trend. Serious alarm is caused by the fact that we see growth of AIDS cases among newly-married couples," said the source.

According to his story, lately physicians have fixed dozens of cases, when a husband, not knowing that he was an HIV patient, infected his wife. His disease was revealed only during his wife's pregnancy.

"Such irresponsible parents give birth to children sick of AIDS. Those young marrieds who fail to present certificates, won't be registered," said the clergyman.

Meanwhile, the population differs in their attitude to such methods of counteracting AIDS dissemination.

"Presenting a certificate that young marrieds have no HIV-infection or AIDS to the mullah, in my opinion, is simply ridiculous; this is no way out of the problem. First of all, we need to raise the consciousness of our youngsters, hold broad-scale explanatory and prophylaxis work, and explain it from the viewpoint of religion, instead of bringing it to absurdity," a local resident named Kheda said.

In the opinion of another resident of republic, the SDM's offer has a rationale. "All the methods, provided they are efficient, are acceptable in fighting this disease," said Khalid, a resident of Grozny.

According to physicians, today Chechnya already counts over 100 families, where not only parents but also children are infected. It is also marked that drug addicts make the majority of local AIDS patients. The statistics says that 51 percent of infections have to do with injection drugs. Then goes the sexual way of the dangerous virus transfer, and then - the mother-to-child way of infecting.