Friday, March 29, 2024

Eastern province responds overwhelmingly to male circumcision

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File:Boys waiting to be circumcised
File:Boys waiting to be circumcised

The Ministry of Health in Eastern province has exceeded its target of 2,000 in the August Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) exercise.

Provincial Medical Officer Kennedy Malama told the media yesterday that the province has managed to circumcise 3,634 people in all the eight districts of the province, a number representing 91 percent of the provincial target which was at 4,000.

Dr Malama explained that Eastern province set its own target with regard to its capacity to scale up the exercise.He attributed the increase in males seeking the service to chiefs’ and media support to the programme through their sensitization programs in the province.

“We thank the media and the chiefs for supporting the activities. As you are aware Male Circumcision assists in the prevention of cervical cancer, HIV and AIDS and other STI’s,” he said.

Dr Malama disclosed that Mambwe district recorded the highest with 454 exceeding its target of 180 while the lowest was Katete with 212 out of a target of 360.

He stated that St. Francis Mission Hospital of Katete district had its own target of 240 but only managed to circumcise 111.

Dr Malama observed that the lowest cases were due to inadequate consumable materials and the problem of transport which limited outreach programmes under VMMC.

He also attributed the inadequate voluntary medical personnel to the low coverage in the VMMC in Katete district.

He however, expressed hope that there will be an increase in September and October saying the Ministry of Health is currently mobilizing resources to intensify the programme in the district.The month of August was declared as a Male Circumcision month of which 45,000 males were to be circumcised.
[ZANIS]

19 COMMENTS

  1. Well done Americans !!! Looks like your dollars have been put to good use in this circumcision campaign you have been sponsoring. It is just a pity that you have failed to implement the same kind of program in your own backyard.Just called a friend in Chicago who told me that he has never seen or heard this circumcision thing being advocated for in his city.

    • Saulosi is always first to discuss distigusting issues.
      Where were you all week when Sata & PF got worst week of their life with their endorsement issue.

    • Ha ha ha.Atishani ba Nostradamus ? Hope you okay bro.I was resting from blogging last week.I was just watching from the sidelines.

  2. 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.”

    It seems highly unrealistic to expect that there will be no risk compensation. The SA 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”.

    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 (especially Condoms) is the way forward. Genital surgery seems likely to cost lives,…

  3. 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?

  4. Hygiene Mr.?? It’s even biblical, read the bible?? “Respect to all uncircumcised men” don’t get me wrong, “But It has more Pros than Cons”. . Actually Circumcision is a common traditional practice in most African Tribes & Countries. Just that this initiative makes it much safer than the traditional methods. Well done Zambian Boys and Men.

    • This is in the Bible:
      Galatians 5:2 (King James Version)
      Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.

      90% of Christians worldwide do *not* circumcise. In the most Christian countries in the world (places like Mexico, Poland, Brazil, Spain, Italy), the practice is almost unknown.

      The Catholic church has been opposed for centuries:
      The Holy Roman Church “…commands all who glory in the name of Christian, at whatever time, before or after baptism, to cease entirely from circumcision, since, whether or not one places hope in it, it cannot be observed at all without the loss of eternal salvation.”

      From the Cantate Domino Papal Bull

  5. 10 Reasons NOT to Circumcise Your Baby Boy-
    1Because there is no medical reason for “routine” circumcision of baby boys. No professional medical association in the United States or the rest of the world recommends routine neonatal circumcision. The American Medical Association calls it “non-therapeutic.” At no time in its 75 years has the American Academy of Pediatrics ever recommended infant circumcision.
    2-The foreskin is a normal, sensitive, functional part of the body. In infant boys, the foreskin is attached to the head of the penis (glans), protects it from urine, feces, and irritation, and keeps contaminants from entering the urinary tract. The foreskin also has an important role in sexual pleasure, due to its specialized, erogenous nerve endings.

    • 3Because you wouldn’t circumcise your baby girl. In the United States, girls of all ages are protected by federal and state laws from forced genital surgery, whether practiced in medical or non-medical settings, and regardless of the religious or cultural preferences of their parents. There is no ethical rationale for distinguishing between female and male genital alteration. If it is wrong to remove part of a baby girl’s healthy genitals, then it is wrong to do the same to those of a baby boy.
      4-Because your baby does not want to be circumcised. Circumcision painfully and permanently alters a baby boy’s genitals, removing healthy, protective, functional tissue from the penis and exposing the child to unnecessary pain and medical risks –for no medical benefit. What do you think your…

    • …I’m totally with u bro….. especially mutilating ‘innocent’ young boys…. its injustice to the highest order…..I can never and will never take my boy for such cruelty….he will decide for him self when he turns 25….

    • Ba Nubian princess mwilaibepa.HPV thrives in epithelial cells and since most of the body surfaces are lined up by epithelial cells chances of HPV are increased.This explains why you can find this virus even on the throat and chances are that you might have a few of those monsters in your vjajay.Stop blaming the innocent foreskin.It just happens to be a candidate because of the epithelial cells just like your fimofimo has epithelial cells.This circumcision crap is just propaganda no wonder even in Israel where it is customary the latest statistics indicates that the number of parents circumcising their children has tremendously reduced in the last 10 years.

  6. Fyabupuba naimwe. Even setting targets for such nonsense! Me my fore skin is going nowhere. I am not going to have a dik that can’t fyonoka!

  7. I believe no woman who is not immoral can get cervical cancer. I believe women who get cervical cancer are those who have been sleeping around, it’s a form of STD. If Male Circumcision was that hygeinic and important God would have said so. He ordered Jews to be circumcised not primarily for health reasons but for identity that they belong to Him as a special people. It was a type of the real circumcision which was to come, the circumcision of the heart when one is bornagain in Christ Jesus. That’s the real circumcision, the circumcision of the heart! God forbade the Jews from forcing non-Jews to be circumcised because what counts is a new creation and not circumcision. Yet Zambians are falling into the same discriminatory trap again of who is circumcised and who isn’t!

  8. Most of the US men who have died of AIDS were circumcised at birth.

    Wawer / Gray showed in 2009 that cutting Ugandans made them 50% MORE likely to infect their female partners. In half of African nations it is the circumcised who have markedly higher HIV incidence.

  9. Many professionals have criticized the studies claiming that circumcision reduces HIV transmission. They have various flaws. The investigators did not seek to determine the source of the HIV infections during their studies. They assumed all infections were heterosexually transmitted. Most HIV infections in Africa are transmitted by contaminated injections and surgical procedures. The absolute rate of HIV transmission reduction is only 1.3%, not the claimed 60%. Authorities that cite the studies have other agendas including political and financial. Research shows that circumcision causes physical, sexual, and psychological harm. This harm is ignored by circumcision advocates. Other methods to prevent HIV transmission (e.g., condoms and sterilizing medical instruments) are much more…

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