Male circumcision as another means of reducing the rate of HIV and AIDS infection has been the area of focus during a three-day conference on policy challenges for management of HIV and AIDS within the armed forces in Southern Africa.

The conference, which started on Wednesday in Maseru, has brought together Medical Directors of Army, civil society and other professionals from more than 10 countries that include Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Sudan and Zambia.

Addressing the conference, the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, urged participants to effectively deliberate on male circumcision and policy challenges for management of HIV and AIDS to help scale up national responses against the pandemic.

Mrs. Mahali Lebesa challenged the conference to further deliberate looking at what SADC has achieved to date in the fight against HIV and AIDS as well as their countries' experiences.

She singled out "Know Your Status" campaign as one of the successful strategies Lesotho has employed in the fight against the pandemic, saying the campaign has impacted positively in the lives of Basotho.

The Director of Health Services for Lesotho Defence Force (LDF), Lieutenant Colonel (Lt. Col). Paul Kuenane said LDF and Institute for Security Studies of South Africa have ventured into bringing change in policy to reduce HIV and AIDS infection rate.

He said the conference will provide them with knowledge on how best to manage HIV and AIDS.

Meanwhile, WHO and UNAIDS report stipulates that male circumcision does not provide complete protection against HIV infection as circumcised men could still become infected with the virus and if HIV positive, could infect their sexual partners.

The report further indicates that promoting and providing safe male circumcision does not replace other interventions to prevent heterosexual transmission of HIV, but provides an additional strategy.

Source: LENA 17/10/2007