ZIMBABWE soldiers will undergo voluntary male circumcision as part of a regional effort to curb the spread of HIV, officials said.
Defence Minister Emerson Mnangagwa has backed the programme which will target males between the ages of 18-29.
Zimbabwe will give the scheme a trial run as part of resolutions of the 15-nation Southern Africa Development Community’s Defence Forces and Health Ministers’ conference held in 2008.
The Ministry of Health has drawn up plans to roll-out the programme starting in January next year, with plans to extend it to civilians and new-born babies.
Kaka Mudambo, the SADC Military Health Services Regional Programme coordinator told a conference in Harare over the weekend: “The Zimbabwe uniformed forces male circumcision programme has its origins in the national drive to push male circumcision in all sectors.
“It is aimed at harmonising and standardising practices and interventions within SADC military formations.”
Research conducted in South Africa, Uganda and Kenya recently found heterosexual men who were circumcised were up to 60 percent less likely to become infected with HIV over the course of the trials than those who were not circumcised.
HIV is prevalent in the 36,000-strong Zimbabwe army and air force which health officials blame on the amount of time spent by soldiers away from home.
A recent survey for UNAIDS on 550 male soldiers revealed that 48.6% had been away from home for more than a month in the preceding 12 months, and 29.5% reported risky sexual intercourse in the last 12 months.
In a 1999 study UNAIDS claimed 55 percent of the army is HIV-positive.
"In the military, young and socially inexperienced people are recruited and trained to be fearless and aggressive. While this is good for war situations, research shows that the youthful soldiers carry this approach into civilian life and into their private sexual interactions," the report noted.
A 2003 Zimbabwe Human Development Report claimed that HIV prevalence in the armed forces far exceeded the general population infection rate of 24.6 percent, and three-quarters of soldiers died of AIDS within a year of leaving the army.