The Kijabe Mission Hospital will partner with Naivasha Maximum Prison to offer free and voluntary male circumcision to prisoners wishing to under-go the rite.
This came as it emerged that the number of uncircumcised inmates was increasing by the day in the penal institution that is said to be the largest in the country.
The hospital management said it will conduct the free service to willing inmates as one way of reducing the spread of HIV virus in the institution that is home to more than 3,000 hardcore prisoners.
During a free counselling event at the prison, the hospital donated sanitary materials, including shaving machines for use by inmates for their day to day activities.
The representative from the referral hospital, Peninah Kahura said the initiative was part of a wider campaign to reach out to the prison community and the less privileged in the society.
Kahura said willing inmates will undergo the ritual and will be monitored through the prisons medical clinic until they recover, adding that this will reduce cases of sexually transmitted diseases among the prisoners.
The Prisons Welfare Officer, Mose Kodek said the initiative will go a long way in assisting the reform progress that has been going on at the facility for some time now and thanked the hospital management for assisting the inmates.
He at the same time, called on communities where the inmates came from to accept them back once they are through with their sentences, saying prisons countrywide had become centers of transformation to make positive impacts to the lives of many who have gone through the system.
Inmates through their representative, Peter Maina praised the decision to offer the critical service to them, saying it would support them in overcoming many of the challenges they encounter while serving their sentences.
By Esther Mwangi
