Govt targeting 4 million circumcisions by 2016

By Violet Nabatanzi

ABOUT 2.1 million men in the country have undergone circumcision in the last five years and out of this five of them died of Tetanus.  

The National Safe Male Circumcision (SMC) coordinator in the Ministry of Health Barbra Nanteza said there target is to circumcise 4.2 m men between 15 and 49 years by 2015. She said those who died applied herbal medicine after circumcision and in the process they were exposed to Tetanus.

Addressing journalists during a science café in Ntinda, Nanteza said this year; the ministry is targeting to circumcise 1.1 million men. Circumcision is fully donor funded, and that the ministry has no special budget for it. 

She further said the Ministry of health is carrying out a research with Rakai health science project to circumcise 500 babies. So far about 200 babies have been circumcised.

She said under this study they are using Gomco clamp to circumcise babies. A Gomco clamp is a specialized clamp for performing circumcisions. 

"Other parts of the country are recommended to circumcise babies but they are not using a Clamp. After this study we shall use a clamp safely to circumcise babies throughout the country.”

Safe Male Circumcision is a scientifically proven biomedical intervention for prevention of female-to-male transmission of HIV.

It is a scientifically proven biomedical intervention for prevention of female-to-male transmission of HIV. The World Health Organization and the United Nations Program on HIV/ AIDS recommend SMC for countries with a high prevalence of HIV and low prevalence of male circumcision.

"Uganda is doing well in terms of circumcision; we introduced PrePex device to circumcise men and men liked it. When the public started criticizing PrePex device that it was causing Tetanus, we stopped using it," Nanteza said.

PrePex is a medical device developed to facilitate non-surgical Voluntary Medical male circumcision (VMMC) of adults as part of a comprehensive HIV prevention strategy.

The device is disposable and comprises four elements: a Placement Ring, an Inner Ring, an Elastic Ring and a Verification Thread. The device stops the flow of blood and oxygen to the foreskin tissue.