Male circumcision procedure to reduce risk of HIV

South African adults continue to engage in risky sexual behaviour despite a countrywide programme making male condoms widely available at no cost to the public.

This presents a strengthened case for more voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) to occur, in helping to mitigate the spread of HIV.

There still remains a stigma towards the contraception and, according to the South African Demographic Health Survey released this year, inadequate use of male condoms was reported among 58% of women and 65% of men who had multiple partners in the last year.

With unprotected sex increasing the risk of contracting HIV and other sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), CareWorks asks why so many South Africans aren’t condomising?

“Many men and women say sex with a condom just isn’t as enjoyable. They say it takes the spontaneity out of the moment, they have reduced sensation and they don’t like the smell,” the non-profit organisation’s VMMC programme manager Hilton Julius said.

“The fact that condom use remains so low after many years of safe sex campaigns is troubling. It does, however, strengthen the case for voluntary medical male circumcision, which offers partial (60%) protection against HIV for men; as well as having other protective benefits against prostate and penile cancer and other STDs.”

About 14.54 million VMMCs have been performed for HIV prevention in 14 priority countries, which will avert over half a million new HIV infections to 2030, he said.

“South Africa has set a new goal of circumcising an additional 2.5 million men aged 15-34 by 2022. An estimated 303 000 infections will be averted if 80% targets are met among 15-34-year-olds by 2028.

“The safest scenario is for men to undergo VMMC to limit their risk of contracting HIV, while also using a condom.”

Julius added that in South Africa more than 7 million people are HIV positive. Among adults aged 15-49, an estimated 18.9% of the population is HIV positive. VMMC procedures should thus become the norm, he said. – news@citizen.co.za