Zimbabwe MPs Get Circumcised in AIDS Fight

Male lawmakers in Zimbabwe get circumcised in a health drive to curb the spread of HIV.

A handful of lawmakers stepped into a mobile clinic set up inside the parliament building to undergo the procedure carried out under local anaesthetic and using a new method that does not require downtime.

About AIDS/HIV - Prevention
Encyclopedia section of medindia explains in brief about the prevention for AIDS/HIV

"I feel proud now that I have accomplished what we set to accomplish," Blessing Chebundo, a member of parliament from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party, said minutes after he was circumcised. He was the first of a batch of lawmakers that lined up for the procedure.

Speaker of parliament Lovemore Moyo said by going public about their testing and circumcision, the lawmakers were "leading by example".

Dozens of deputies and parliament staff on Thursday took HIV tests.

HIV/AIDS Risk Calculator
The HIV risk quiz helps you determine risk factors for HIV.

Forty-four members of parliament have volunteered to be circumcised, in a campaign hoped to reach 1.2 million males by 2015.

Population Services International, a US-based global health agency, is offering the testing and circumcision procedures.

Quiz on HIV / AIDS
Statistics tell us that the world HIV+ population has risen drastically from 8 million in 1990 to a whopping 33 million in 2007! Even more alarming is the fact that young people (below the age of 25) account for half of these infections! This is adequate proof for the lack of awareness among the general public even in these modern times. So take our quiz and brush up on the essential facts of HIV/AIDS.

There are 10 questions on HIV / AIDS in this quiz that will explore the depth of your knowledge and provide answers to the following:

Immune control of HIV ()
Symptoms of HIV/AIDS ()
Cure for AIDS ()
Acute HIV syndrome ()
World AIDS day ()
Western blot ()

Medical research has shown male circumcision can reduce chances of HIV transmission by 60 percent.

Circumcision - Phimosis
Simple steps depicting surgical removal of foreskin.

"If we can circumcise 1.2 million men by 2015 we can prevent 750,000 new cases of HIV, which means we can really start to envision a country in which there are no new HIV infections," said the health agency's director Louisa Norman.

Zimbabwe has 1.1 million people living with HIV, including 150,000 children, according to the country's National AIDS Council.

In a rare open talk about the disease, President Robert Mugabe in March told parliament that some of his political allies had died of AIDS.

Source-AFP