Success for 'positive pair' HIV scheme

A new initiative in Nigeria to pair up people who are HIV positive has met with success, officials have revealed.

The BACATMA project has been devised to join HIV positive people up with suitable partners in a dating and marriage scheme.

So far, there have been 110 of these couples married within the first year of the scheme.

In addition, 15 of the couples have had children which are HIV negative, while a further eight couples are engaged to be married, the AFP reports.

Rilwanu Mohammed, head of BACATMA, told the news provider: "We devised this matchmaking strategy after realising that, apart from casual sex, HIV is also spread through marriage.

"We counsel the couple on how to protect the baby from infection and so far all the 15 children born from this marriage programme are HIV negative."

BACATMA is aiming to join 500 HIV positive couples in matrimony within the next two years.

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