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Zimbabwe MPs to be circumcised for aids awareness campaign
ANI
May 21, 2012

http://in.news.yahoo.com/zimbabwe-mps-circumcised-aids-awareness-campaign-101933271.html

More than 170 Zimbabwean MPs and parliamentary workers will be circumcised in the coming weeks as part of a HIV-Aids campaign.

The politicians will also be tested for the disease and offered counselling if the results come back positive, the Telegraph reported.

The announcement follows the launch of the Zimbabwe Parliamentarians against HIV and Aids campaign last week aimed at bringing down the country's 15 per cent HIV infection rate.

All 150 male members of the 175-strong group have all committed to being circumcised, while its female members are encouraging their husbands and boyfriends to undergo the procedure.

Blessing Chebundo, the group's chairman, said ZIPAH members will also disseminate HIV and Aids information in their constituencies.

He said that many MPs had been against the move because if they did not come forward, it would be speculated that they were infected.

"We are beyond worrying about speculation in Zimbabwe," Chebundo said.

"We have all been living with this for so long now and it is time we MPs showed the way," he added.

The idea of a mass circumcision of MPs was first floated by the MDC Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe, who cited evidence that circumcised men are 60 per cent less likely to get infected with HIV.

It followed a government campaign in 2010 to circumcise up to 80 per cent of the country's young men - approximately three million people.

At the time, many MPs were unconvinced, describing the idea as "madness" and "bizarre".

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