Spotlight to fall on circumcision on World Aids Day
ALEXANDRA – This World Aids Day, Alexandra will be a hive of activity and the spotlight will fall on Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC).
This World Aids Day on 1 December, Alexandra will be a hive of activity and the spotlight will fall on Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC).
According to experts, this procedure could avert more than one million new HIV infections in South Africa by 2025.
Marina Rifkin, an epidemiologist working as the public health specialist at CareWorks, an HIV management organisation, said the 20-minute circumcision procedure reduces a man’s lifetime risk of contracting HIV by up to 60 percent.
Rifkin said, “The National Department of Health aims to medically circumcise 4,3 million males by the end of December 2016. This translates to about 80 percent of uncircumcised HIV-negative males aged 15 to 49.
“It is, therefore, critical that more men and boys take up medical male circumcision services. Undergoing circumcision could help South Africa become an Aids-free nation.
“That’s the epitome of responsible citizenship and personal activism.”
Since 2009, nearly two million men in South Africa have been medically circumcised.
VMMC is a routine, simple procedure conducted under local anaesthetic. It is the lynchpin in a combination prevention approach that includes correct and consistent condom use, regular testing for HIV, treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and initiation of antiretroviral therapy for eligible people living with HIV.
“None of these measures offers 100 percent protection, but used in concert, they offer the closest we have to an HIV vaccine,” she said.
VMMC also helps prevent other STIs – such as syphilis, genital warts and herpes – in men and women.
It also reduces the risk of penile cancer and it reduces a circumcised male’s partners’ risk of getting HPV (human papillomavirus) and, as a result, cervical cancer. So VMMC has a health dividend beyond HIV and needs be implemented energetically, in concert with the rich traditions of our country.
“SA has made excellent progress inasmuch as HIV can now be managed as a chronic condition through ARVs [antiretroviral therapy], but that comes at a massive cost. By reducing the number of new infections – and thus the number of people requiring ARVs – South Africa could free up billions [of rand] for social development that addresses poverty, inequality and unemployment,” Rifkin said.
Details: Send a ‘please call me’ to 0606 800 800 and a counsellor will get back to you; for VMMC information, visit www.mmcinfo.co.za
