Chiefs urged to adopt annual male circumcision

Chiefs countrywide have been urged to adopt annual male circumcision in their communities like the Shangaan people in southern Masvingo if the country is to make meaningful inroads in fighting against HIV/Aids.

Minister of State responsible for Masvingo provincial affairs Kudakwashe Bhasikiti said annual male circumcision should stop being the exclusive practice of Shangaans only but also expand to other communities across Zimbabwe.

Bhasikiti who was speaking in Mwenezi after the graduation of Shangaan men who successfully underwent initiation and circumcision last weekend said that circumcision reduces HIV infection.

"We must encourage other chiefs to adopt traditions such as the annual circumcision practiced by the Shangaan people if we are to win the war against HIV/Aids. Circumcision reduces HIV infection by over 60 percent," he said.

He said there was nothing wrong for other cultures in Zimbabwe to embrace the annual circumcision practice by the Shangaans if it has the capacity to enhance the fight.

The acting Masvingo provincial medical director, Dr Amadeous Shamu, said the annual male circumcision practice in the Lowveld continued to be blighted by food shortages saying Government alone did not have sufficient resources to sustain it every year.

Dr Shamu said the major challenge remained that of food shortages saying recurrent droughts in Masvingo meant communities always lacked enough food to feed themselves.