A STAGGERING 270 million male condoms have been distributed in Zimbabwe since 2005, and researchers credit rising use of protection for the halving of HIV prevalence from a high of 28 percent to the current 13.7 percent over the same period.
At least 10 million female condoms were also distributed through 12,000 centres run by non-governmental organisations, Population Services International (PSI), a global health organisation, said this week.
Louisa Norman, the PSI country director for Zimbabwe, says her organisation – working with the government – is intensifying condom distribution while at the same time scaling up male circumcision programmes.
The Health Ministry has set a target of circumcising at least 80 percent of sexually-active men and newly-born babies by 2015. According to the World Health Organisation, circumcision reduces the risk of HIV infection by approximately 60 percent.
Norman said: “Over the last five years, a total of 1,9 million individuals were counselled and tested for HIV at the various New Start Centres around the country.
“Scaling up male circumcision to reach 80 percent of all adult and new born males by 2015 would reduce the number of new adult HIV infections in Zimbabwe by more than 80 percentby the end of 2025.
“It’s an incredible opportunity and the country has set an ambitious target to circumcise 1,2 million males by 2015.”
The Health Ministry says 11,102 males have so far been circumcised under the ambitious programme launched last year.