Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has urged men to be circumcised to reduce their chances of contracting HIV.

Beeld newspaper quote him as saying: "We have proof that male circumcision reduces the chance of the virus being transmitted from a man to a woman," he told the National Assembly on Thursday during a debate on World Aids Day.

The government would tour the country to spread this message.

"We will call on every man who has not been circumcised to make sure he is circumcised," he said.

State health facilities would provide free circumcisions.

Circumcision had to become part of a package of measures on sexual health, which included the use of condoms and responsible behaviour towards sexual partners, he said.