Govt to roll out male cut campaign

• There are 1.2 million uncircumcised males between the ages of 15 and 49 in the country, according to a survey.

The government is set to roll out an aggressive male circumcision campaign in Nyanza province targeting 30,000 males in a month.

The Director of Public Health in Nyanza Province Dr Jackson Kioko said that the drive Rapid results initiative for voluntary medical male circumcision will be undertaken not only in health facilities but also selected outreach facilities such as schools across the province.

Dr Kioko said that the initiative that runs from November 9 to December 20 is geared towards ensuring that the annual targets are met within the set time without injecting additional resources.

“This will be a period of accelerated activities to circumcise as many males as possible,” he told the press at a media briefing in a Kisumu hotel Tuesday.

Voluntary male circumcision was adopted by the government as a strategy for prevention and control of HIV and Aids.

The programme that was launched by Prime Minister Raila Odinga intends to circumcise 80 per cent of uncircumcised males in the province, which is estimated at 520,000 individuals, by 2013.

According to the Kenya Aids Indicator Survey of 2007, there are 1.2 million uncircumcised males between the ages of 15 and 49 in the country.

Dr Kioko said that for the male circumcision programme to have a public health impact in prevention and control of HIV and Aids, at least 1.1 million of these males had to be circumcised countrywide, 520,000 out of whom are in Nyanza Province.

Dr Kioko added that medical personnel who are on leave or off duty will be roped in to carry out the drive.

The male circumcision strategy was launched last year by the government in Nyanza Province which not only had high prevalence rates for the scourge but also had a huge proportion of uncircumcised males.

The prevalence of the disease in the province stands at between three and 49 per cent in different areas with an average of 14.9 per cent. The national average is seven per cent.