HARARE: In Zimbabwe’s Parliament, lawmakers belonging to a panel on health issues set up an HIV/AIDS testing and male circumcision center and said 20 legislators underwent the surgery yesterday.
Medical officials running the program said 107 legislators and their spouses have been given virus tests so far. Lawmaker Blessing Chebundo of the Zimbabwe prime minister’s party said the campaign, the first of its kind involving the country’s leaders, is a show of “political will” to fight AIDS.
Officials said more than 40 lawmakers have volunteered to undergo circumcision, a procedure that research shows reduces the risk of HIV transmission.
Infection in Zimbabwe runs at about 13 percent of the population but rises above 20 percent in the teens to early 30s age group.
Zimbabwe MPs get circumcised in AIDS fight
