From Roselyne Sachiti in Washington, DC, USA
United States Secretary of State Mrs Hillary Clinton has lauded 40 Zimbabwean parliamentarians who recently underwent voluntary male circumcision.

She described the team as true leaders who should be applauded for their role in the HIV and Aids fight.
Addressing 20 000 delegates gathered here for the XIX International Aids Conference, Mrs Clinton said Zimbabwean lawmakers were a good example of political leadership’s commitment in the HIV and  Aids management.

She said they supported more than 400 000 male circumcision procedures since last December alone and hoped to do more through different grants.
“. . .We want the world to know that this procedure reduces the risk of female-to-male transmission by more than 60 percent and for the rest of the man’s life, so the impact can be phenomenal.

Also see

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• Circumcision: A first hand experience

• At least 40 legislators circumcised

“In Zimbabwe, some male lawmakers wanted to show their constituents how safe and virtually painless the procedure is, so they went to a mobile clinic and got circumcised.

“That’s the kind of leadership we welcome.  And we are also seeing the development of new tools that would allow people to perform the procedure with less training and equipment than they need today without compromising safety,” he said.
Mrs Clinton challenged other countries to support the Global Fund in the fight against HIV and Aids, TB and malaria. She announced an additional US$80 million to support innovative approaches that ensure HIV positive pregnant women get treatment they need to protect themselves, their babies and partners.

“An additional US$15 million for implementation research to identify the specific interventions that are most effective for key populations, US$20 million to launch a challenge fund that will support country-led plans to expand services for their key populations and US$2 million investment in the Robert Carr Society Service Network

Funds to bolster the efforts of civil society groups in addressing key populations,” she said.
Chief Darlington Mumena of the Kaonde people of Zambia also heaped praise on the Zimbabwean political leaders for taking the initiative, which he said was another way of managing the spread of HIV and Aids alongside responsible behaviour.

A total of 107 legislators, their spouses and Parliament staff members underwent HIV counselling and testing at a clinic at Parliament Building in Harare.
The initiative dubbed “Parliamentarians making the smart choice”, seeks to send a message to constituencies to encourage the grassroots to follow suit.