A lot of people enter into this lifelong union called marriage without adequate knowledge of their partner’s health status.
This ultimately leads to frustration, complication and sometimes life-threatening conditions for their offsprings because of medical conditions that could have been identified and tackled before saying “I Do”.
Congratulations on your engagement but here are 5 Must-Do tests before your big day.
Test for Sexually Transmitted Diseases
That’s right! The knowledge of your intending partner’s STD status by no means implies that marriage is not possible but it gives you an avenue to make informed consent and it enables you and your spouse seek proper medical care early to prevent unnecessary stress in the marriage.
With the current prevalence of HIV and other STDs, it is important that you request to be screened for these diseases before marriage. HIV, hepatitis B, and C are lifelong conditions that if not properly managed can put a serious strain on the marriage. Other STDs e.g. gonorrhea, syphilis, bacterial vaginosis, and warts can be treated with proper medical care.
Blood Test
Knowledge of your spouse blood group is important before marriage because of rhesus isoimmunization/ blood group incompatibility that affects the fetus. This test is easy to perform and the result is usually ready within 30 minutes. Blood group is assigned to an individual as A, B, O, and AB with another component known as the Rhesus factor which is referred to as positive or negative. Women with rhesus negative blood group married to rhesus positive husbands have a greater chance of rhesus incompatibility where the mother produces antibodies (body defense system) to target the red blood cells of the growing fetus (rhesus positive fetus) leading to intrauterine death and miscarriages. Knowledge of your spouse blood group will alert your doctor to institute preventive measures which are used to prevent rhesus incompatibility reactions during pregnancy.
Fertility Test
This may sound out of place or weird, but truth be told, fertility test is another test that all intending coupes should do before saying ‘I DO’. This is important because fertility issues can be addressed as early as possible without the unnecessary biological, psychological, social and emotional trauma associated with barrenness. Fertility test typically includes: seminal analysis for the men to assess for male fertility; hormonal assay for both couples e.g. FSH, LH, Prolactin, Testosterone, estrogen and progesterone; test for ovulation for the women, pelvic ultrasound scan may also be needed to assess the internal reproductive organs for any congenital or acquired abnormalities.
Testing for possible genetic /chronic medical conditions
Marriage is a lifelong commitment with both partners looking after each another. Knowledge of possible genetic or chronic conditions of your partner wouldn’t be harmful but it will go a long way in assisting both couples on how to best prepare for the challenges ahead. Early testing allows couples seek medical care before the medical conditions gets to its terminal stage. This test depends on the region and the common chronic/genetic condition seen in that populace. However, this test should include screening for diabetes, test for hypertension, certain cancers kidney disease and test for thalassemia.
