Outapi
Elim Constituency councillor Gerhard Shiimi has urged men to get circumcised in order to prevent the spread of HIV that leads to AIDS.
Shiimi, who strongly believes male circumcision would make zero infection a reality, appealed to the youth to make that bold decision instead of shying away from circumcision points.
“There is still a lot of stigma surrounding circumcision, and men do not want to be seen in circumcision queues.”
However, he said the same stigma clouded the idea of going for voluntary testing and taking ARVs but all that is in the past. People are now living positively. “Remember you are doing it for your own health,” advised Shiimi.
Speaking to the youth in Outapi, he reminded them that circumcision can reduce the risk of HIV infection by 60 percent and it also reduces the risk of infected youth infecting their partners with HIV.
In the same vein, Shiimi reminded the youth that being circumcised does not mean engaging in reckless sexual behaviour.
Instead, he emphasized the need for protection even when circumcised. “Once you are circumcised don’t now go sleeping around and not protecting yourself. Being circumcised does not mean you are exempted from HIV, instead what it means is that it reduces the risk of contracting the virus by 60 percent,” he stressed.
Shiimi also advised women to take the lead to ensure their partners use protection such as condoms in order to protect themselves.
Equally, Shiimi encouraged the youth to own up to their responsibilities. He said the youth should put an end to the issue of denying children the right to know their fathers and for the men to stop denying their children the opportunity to acquire birth certificates and requisite national documents.
“Mothers stop denying children the chance to know their fathers, it is their right and fathers stop denying your child access to acquiring national documents. Provide the required documents, even if it means speaking to the mother at home affairs for that one day, do it. It’s the child’s right to own a birth certificate,” appealed Shiimi.
He encouraged the youth to be exemplary and to be role models to the young generation.
He said the youth should take the initiative to correct fellow youths in their surroundings.
“If you see a fellow youth doing something wrong, correct them and encourage those who sit at shebeen’s consuming alcohol to do volunteer work,” the councillor appealed to the youth.
On a different note, he urged the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development as well as the Ministry of Gender and Child Welfare to speed up the process of giving loans to communities because the process is presently very slow.
He also urged the youth to submit a report, which entails their need to the regional council so that their plight can be addressed at a regional level.