{"id":51804,"date":"2023-07-01T11:21:49","date_gmt":"2023-07-01T11:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-urge-caution-after-dna-tests-soar"},"modified":"2023-07-01T12:40:41","modified_gmt":"2023-07-01T12:40:41","slug":"experts-urge-caution-after-dna-tests-soar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-urge-caution-after-dna-tests-soar","title":{"rendered":"Experts urge caution after DNA tests soar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>The demand for paternity testing in the country is increasing despite concerns from some feminists and marriage counsellors that it could tear apart more families.<\/p>\n

Paternity testing, also known as Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing, involves comparing the genetic material (DNA) of a child with that of the father. The end goal is to establish a biological relationship between the two.<\/p>\n

Usually, blood samples or cheek swabs from the two are enough for laboratory scientists to provide results, which is around 99.9 percent accurate and north of Shs500,000 in cost.<\/p>\n

Mr Joshua Kitakule, the secretary general of the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda, said the demand for paternity testing is rising because globalisation and the rising cost of living have made people selfish.<\/p>\n

While infidelity in women was not a rarity in the past, Mr Kitakule hastens to add that men back then were more accommodating.<\/p>\n

\u201cTraditionally, [a man and his relatives] used to know when a child doesn\u2019t belong to a man and even the woman wouldn\u2019t deny\u201d he revealed, adding that \u201cthe child would still be accommodated\u201d once the woman \u201cadmitted] that she made a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Kitakule opined that the reason why men were so accommodative back then was because \u201cfood was available in the garden, education was not that expensive.\u201d Globalisation, he adds, \u201chas brought in selfishness\u201d with people becoming individualistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you discover a child is not yours, you don\u2019t want to spend any more money on them. You want them to go away because, currently, running a family is a very expensive venture,\u201d he further reasoned.<\/p>\n

Ms Agnes Namaganda\u2014a communications specialist at Makerere University\u2019s Child Health and Development Centre of Makerere University\u2014 recommends \u201cmore counselling to make people understand that family is not about blood.\u201d<\/p>\n

She nevertheless adds: \u201cAlthough many men argue that when children are not yours, there is a way they behave and that they will be the people that will kill you. Men are right to do paternity tests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Namaganda also told Monitor<\/b> that just as the husband has the right to do paternity tests, they should also be able to understand why a wife can have a child with another man.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver time, the women have accepted men and their behaviour\u2014that men go astray [and have extramarital sex]. But now women are saying that if men are weak, [women] are also weak,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCulture has also changed over time, women are also earning and they are independent. Because of that, there is that equality, that if a man [she is not married to] is hitting on her and she is sure she is safe, she will give in,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Mr Ali Male, a counselling psychologist at A-Z Professional Counselling Support Centre in Kampala, says a common pattern emerges when women discover they are carrying another man\u2019s child.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter thinking about the next step and consulting her other colleagues, she ends up resolving the matter into the paternity line of the current man. That is where we get the problem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Common occurrence<\/b><\/p>\n

The problem has in recent times seen officials at the Internal Affairs ministry work overtime. This week alone at least 32 men wrote to the ministry\u2019s Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control (DCIC) over the same. They demanded the cancellation of children\u2019s passports after DNA results showed they are not the biological fathers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen DNA tests show that a child has different paternity backgrounds, it is accompanied by shock, grief, and anger in a man who has invested so much in a child but has been told that is not his,\u201d Mr Male explained, adding: \u201cThere is also confusion, and for women [in the wrong], there is denial and then bargaining before acceptance, which is not an easy-to-reach stage. Many take years to accept (that they did bad or bad things happened to them).\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Male notes that refusing to accept the bad incident leads to depression, anxiety, and stress.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis happens when the person has remained in shock or is in denial or is still angry and seeks revenge,\u201d he explained, adding that the aggrieved men should seek counselling services and should refrain from labelling themselves failures.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. The demand for paternity testing in the country is increasing despite concerns from some feminists and marriage counsellors that it could tear apart more families. Paternity testing, also known as Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing, involves comparing the genetic material (DNA) of a child with that of the father. The end goal is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":51803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-51804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nExperts urge caution after DNA tests soar - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The demand for paternity testing in the country is increasing despite concerns from some feminists and marriage counsell ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-urge-caution-after-dna-tests-soar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Experts urge caution after DNA tests soar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The demand for paternity testing in the country is increasing despite concerns from some feminists and marriage counsell ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-urge-caution-after-dna-tests-soar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-01T11:21:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-01T12:40:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/07\/sm_1688198918.656467.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"688\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-urge-caution-after-dna-tests-soar#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-urge-caution-after-dna-tests-soar\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Experts urge caution after DNA tests soar\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-01T11:21:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-01T12:40:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-urge-caution-after-dna-tests-soar\"},\"wordCount\":718,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-urge-caution-after-dna-tests-soar#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/07\/sm_1688198918.656467.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-urge-caution-after-dna-tests-soar#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-urge-caution-after-dna-tests-soar\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/experts-urge-caution-after-dna-tests-soar\",\"name\":\"Experts urge caution after DNA tests soar - 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