By Own Correspondent| The National Aids Council (NAC) Midlands Provincial Aids Co-ordinator, Mambewu Shumba has said his organisation is currently putting condom dispensers at Midlands State University in a move aimed at preventing new HIV infections among tertiary students.

This comes shortly after the NAC revealed a shocking statistic – almost half of the female students at tertiary institutions either have or will contract HIV during their course of study.

Said Shumba:

“We have put 21 condom dispensers at MSU and nine more are coming. We are doing this to promote condom use among youths.

“It has been discovered that there are more new HIV infections among people between 15 and 24 years. Most of these students, particularly females, interact with men who are above 50.

“There are various intervention strategies that we have deployed as a province to ensure that we close the tap of HIV. We have reached out to various key populations in the province.”

The National Aids Council has since called for the government to introduce a law which will require compulsory HIV Testing for all prospective couples before they get a marriage certificate.