The Iranian Health Ministry announced that it will start offering various tests as part of its pregnancy services including the HIV test in 10 high-risk areas in 16 provinces.
ILNA reports that Abbas Sedaghat, the head of the AIDS task force in the Ministry of Health, said the ministry has implemented plans to improve access to testing for HIV and counseling for AIDS patients.
He said that since last year, rapid diagnostic tests in all laboratories, even in the private sector, have been in use.
He added that education and counseling about modes of transmission and prevention of the virus are being offered “free of charge and confidentially” to those who feel for any number of reasons that they may have been exposed to it.
