Ntcheu men still shunning to cut their fore skins –Hospital
A recent voluntary male medical circumcision (VMMC) campaign conducted in Ntcheu has revealed that men still shun the service despite deliberate efforts to reach them.
Briefing stakeholders at the Boma Wednesday, VMMC Acting Coordinator for Ntcheu District hospital Duncan Lipenga, said even though the hospital managed to reach 85 percent of its target during the campaign, the majority of the patrons were children from the age of 10 to 14 years.
“Our target was to circumcise 1,100 clients in three weeks of the campaign but we managed to reach 931 clients representing 85 percent. We cannot say that we did not do well considering the challenges that were there,” said Lipenga.
According to Lipenga, the turn up of clients was marred with misconceptions that people in the communities have regarding the service.
“Most men still think circumcision is meant for yaos and not everyone. We still have a long way to go if we are to change this trend,” he said.
He also said some men do not feel comfortable to be assisted by female providers as a result shun away.
“Sometimes we meet men that are not comfortable with female providers. We have trained female providers who also perform the procedures. The best thing we can do is not to engage them, but to make the clients understand that the females are equally trained to carry out the procedures and that their privacy is always a priority,” he said.
Lipenga also lamented the use of mobile vans for dissemination of information on VMMC as another challenge affecting the delivery of the service.
“There are some areas where a mobile van cannot reach due to geographical positions. It becomes difficult for us to reach people from those areas with messages. We still need to find other means of reaching out to them with information so that they make informed decisions,” said Lipenga.
The coordinator told Mana that the hospital would intensify sensitization meetings with the people in the district so that they get the right information.
“The good thing is that we know the challenges and what we can do is to intensify sensitization campaigns so that we end those misconceptions that people have. And I am sure with the assistance of community leaders, we can achieve our goals,” he said.
Ntcheu District Health officer (DHO) with assistance from National Aids Commission (NAC) conducted a three week VMMC campaign from 28 August, 2017 at Biriwiri, the district health office and Nsiyaludzu in the district.
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I’d pay a year’s salary rather than be circumcised or have my son circumcised. Why would I want the most sensitive and pleasurable parts cut off? That little bit of skin makes a big difference (it’s not just there to protect the glans).
Male circumcision is a dangerous distraction in the fight against AIDS.
From a USAID report:
“There appears no clear pattern of association between male circumcision and HIV prevalence—in 8 of 18 countries with data, HIV prevalence is lower among circumcised men, while in the remaining 10 countries it is higher.”
(this will include men who were circumcised tribally rather than medically, but they and their partners may also believe themselves to be protected, and the whole rationale for the RCTs into female-to-male transmission was a purported correlation between high rates of male circumcision and low rates of HIV)
It seems highly unrealistic to expect that there will be no risk compensation. The South African National Communication Survey on HIV/AIDS, 2009 found that 15% of adults across age groups “believe that circumcised men do not need to use condoms”. This figure seems to have been unchanged in 2012.
A study in Zambia found that “30% of women at R1, and significantly more (41%) at R2, incorrectly believed MC is fully protective for men against HIV.”
It is unclear if circumcised men are more likely to infect women. The only ever randomized controlled trial into male-to-female transmission showed a 54% higher rate in the group where the men had been circumcised.
ABC (Abstinence, Being faithful, and especially Condoms) is the way forward. Promoting genital surgery seems likely to cost African lives rather than save them.
Europeans don’t circumcise, South Americans don’t circumcise, Australians and New Zealanders used to circumcise but stopped, and less than half of North Americans circumcise. Why should Africans circumcise?