Voluntary male circumcision to roll-out nationwide

The voluntary medical male circumcision programme will shortly be rolling out in all the districts in Malawi as one way of fighting against the HIV/AIDS pandemic, officials say.

This comes as National Aids Commission statistics show that there are fifty thousand new infections in the country representing a prevalence rate of ten point six percent.

The Ministry of Health Spokesperson Henry Chimbali told the media that they are extending the project to the rural areas in order to meet the target.

“The male circumcision works under a public health approach so in this essence that we need to circumcise more men so that we see the benefits of the risk reduction. We will in the course, in six weeks start scaling up in Nkhotakota but also in other districts in the northern region once an agreement has been reached,” said Chimbali.

About 2.6 million adult males have been earmarked for the programme and so far only 50,000 men have been circumcised, according to Chimbali.