Male circumcision uptake remains low

THE uptake of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) among Zimbabwean men aged between 14 and 49 remains low as only 14 percent have been circumcised.

AVERT, an organisation that focuses on global HIV information, says despite Zimbabwe being one of UNAids’ priority countries to scale up VMMC, few men are circumcised.

“Despite VMMC being listed in the country’s National Combination Prevention Strategy, Zimbabwe has one of the poorest VMMC coverage rates in sub-Saharan Africa with 14,3 percent of men aged 15-49 circumcised as of 2016.

“By the end of the 2018, the country aims to have circumcised 1,3 million men,” it said.

According to the Ministry of Health and Child Care 2016 HIV and Aids Estimates report, VMMC is critical to ending Aids as a public health threat by 2030.

“VMMC averts future cost of anti-retroviral therapy so prioritising and investing in VMMC now pays off in the next years.

“In essence VMMC is a cost saving strategy for art programme,” reads the report.

Zimbabwe has the sixth highest HIV prevalence rate in sub-Saharan Africa at 13, 5 percent, with about 1,3 million people living with HIV in 2016.

During that same year, new infections dropped to 40 507 from 79 000 in 2010, with behaviour change communication, high treatment coverage and prevention of mother-to-child transmission services said to be behind this decline.

Zimbabwe launched a Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision campaign in 2009, aiming to put 1,3 million men under the knife by 2015 after studies showed circumcision reduced the risk of contracting HIV by 60 percent. —@thamamoe