The Sunday News
Tinomuda Chakanyuka Sunday News Reporter
MATABELELAND region recorded the highest number of men who were circumcised last year, with the three provinces in the region recording a collective 42 percent of the total number of men who went under the knife nationwide.
Close to 90 000 males were circumcised countrywide in 2013 under the voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) programme.
The number was, however, short of the set target of 115 000 but marked a significant increase from the 40 755 recorded in 2012.
Statistics obtained from the Ministry of Health and Child Care show that Matabeleland South province recorded the highest number of circumcised men in 2013 with 13 500 men having undergone the procedure.
Bulawayo ranked second with 12 600 men having been circumcised, a figure that accounts for 14 percent of the total national figure, followed by Matabeleland North where 11 700 men were circumcised, which is about 13 percent of the total national figure to rank third.
Harare ranked fourth after 10 800 men were circumcised, while Manicaland and Masvingo both ranked fifth with each province having recorded 9 000 circumcised men last year.
Midlands and Mashonaland West provinces both recorded 6 300 each which is about seven percent of the total number of men circumcised in the period in question.
Mashonaland East and Mashonaland Central recorded the least number of circumcised men last year with each province recording about 5 400 men who got their foreskins removed.
Deputy director (HIV/Aids and STIs) in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Dr Tsitsi Mutasa-Apollo explained the disparity in the number of circumcised men in each province, saying some areas in the country started the programme earlier than others.
“The VMMC programme has been operating at varying levels in the different provinces and districts as we are still in the process of scaling up, meaning that some districts started later than others. Currently, VMMC is available in 101 health facilities across the country, including provincial, district and mission hospitals as well as some clinics,” she said.
Dr Mutasa-Apollo also hinted that efforts were being scaled up this year to increase the number of men taking part in the programme.
She revealed that for this year, the Ministry of Health and Child Care had targeted to circumcise 217 800 males, which was almost double last year’s target of 115 000.
“For 2014, we have a target of circumcising 217 800 males. It is quite a high target definitely, but we are optimistic that we will be able to achieve it. To achieve this target, several measures have been put in place and include the following.
“Firstly, we are increasing the number of doctors, nurses and support staff providing voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) services. Secondly, additional service sites have been opened and others will be opened during the course of the year as a way of increasing availability and access to services,” she said.
Dr Mutasa-Apollo added that plans were afoot to open 16 more male circumcision static facilities this year to add to the 101.
She said the opening of more static sites would help bring the services closer to the people as well as increase outreach activities, as the sites would act as coordinating centres for all outreach programmes.
“Outreach activities will also be intensified to ensure services are brought closer to where potential clients are. It is from these facilities that outreach work will be conducted from.”
Dr Mutasa-Apollo also expressed optimism that the introduction of PrePex device, as an additional method of male circumcision would increase the uptake of the male circumcision among the country’s male population.
“We believe that the introduction of the PrePex will increase the number of males to be circumcised as men now have a choice as to which method they can be circumcised with.
Currently, the device is available in selected sites in the country, but we will be rolling it out to more sites during the course of the year.
“So as we will have more sites offering the service, we will see an upward trend in most provinces in 2014 and beyond,” Dr Mutasa-Apollo said.
Circumcision is said to reduce chances of HIV infection by about 60 percent and the procedure has been adopted by many countries, Zimbabwe included, as one of the many tools in the fight against HIV.
