Ugandan Lawmaker To Provide University Scholarships to Virgin Girls as Part of HIV/AIDS Fight

A Ugandan lawmaker says he will give university scholarships to girls from his district who are virgins when they graduate from high school in an attempt to fight the spread of HIV, the AP/San Francisco Chronicle reports (AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 7/20). Sulaiman Madada, a member of the Ugandan parliament from the country's Kayunga District, said he is aiming to promote morality and will require eligible girls to undergo a gynecological exam to prove their virginity before he will pay their school fees (AFP/Yahoo! News, 7/20). "We want to encourage people to be morally upright and not to go into early marriages," Madada said, adding, "We also want girls to resist defilement. We do not want these girls to get exposed to AIDS" (AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 7/20). Madada said he is relying on donors to help pay for the project, adding, "I have contacted some [nongovernmental organizations] and well wishers to join me in this." More than 80% of families in the Kayunga District report having had at least one family member die of AIDS-related causes (AFP/Yahoo! News, 7/20).