ZAMBIA: Prominent figure publicly tested for HIV

Zambia's Vice president, Nevers Mumba, was earlier this week publicly tested for HIV in an effort to promote voluntary counselling and testing by his countrymen.

He said he hoped that being tested in public would encourage others to know their HIV status.

The Zambian News Agency (ZANA) quoted him as saying, "In my family, I have lost two brothers and a sister, whom I loved so dearly, through AIDS ... for the sake of ourselves, for the sake of our children and for the sake of the nation, it is important that we take it."

Mumba is the second prominent Zambian to be tested for HIV after former president Kenneth Kaunda was tested two years ago.

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[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]