Meghalaya may follow Goa in making HIV/AIDS test mandatory for all before marriage, the State’s Health and Family Welfare Minister Mazel Ampareen Lyngdoh said on Friday (July 25, 2025).
She said an “alarming” overview of the HIV/AIDS scenario in the State by the Meghalaya AIDS Control Society (MACS) had led the government to consider a new law to make such a test compulsory.
“We should have a set of laws like Goa to make pre-marriage HIV/AIDS test mandatory. This will benefit our communities,” Ms. Lyngdoh told journalists in the State’s capital, Shillong.
On Thursday, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong chaired a meeting with the agenda of formulating a comprehensive HIV/AIDS policy. The Health Minister said her department was directed to prepare a Cabinet note for the policy.
She said the meeting was specific to the East Khasi Hills district, which recorded 3,432 HIV-positive cases in 2024, almost twice as many as the year before. Of these, only 1,581 were availing of anti-retroviral therapy (ART).
