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CSU 12/2008: PROMOTING MALE CIRCUMCISION IN RWANDA

Tuesday, 25th of March 2008 Print

CSU 12/2008: PROMOTING MALE  CIRCUMCISION IN RWANDA
 
 The Republic of Rwanda has three ethnic groups (Hutu, Tutsi and Twa)
 which do not (except among the Muslim minority) routinely practice male
 circumcision.
 
 This press report discusses the plans of the Rwandan government to
 promote male circumcision as a method of reducing the risk of heterosexual
 HIV transmission.
 
 This note is cross posted from Aids-Africa Forum.
 
 Good reading.
 
 BD
 
 
 
 "Rwanda To Launch Campaign Aimed At Addressing Circumcision Myths,
 Encouraging Procedure In Effort To Prevent HIV" Article Date: 27 Feb
 2008
 
 
 Health authorities in Rwanda are planning to launch a nationwide campaign
 this year aimed at addressing myths about male circumcision and encouraging
 men to be circumcised in an effort to prevent the spread of HIV,
 McClatchy/Miami Herald reports (Miami Herald, 2/24).
 
 Rwanda announced plans to launch the campaign in September 2007. According
 to final data from two NIH-funded studies -- conducted in Uganda and Kenya
 and published last year in the journal Lancet -- routine male circumcision
 could reduce a man's risk of HIV infection through heterosexual sex by 65%.
 The results of the Uganda and Kenya
 studies mirrored similar results of a study conducted in South Africa in
 2005. In response to the findings, the World Health Organization and UNAIDS
 in March 2007 recommended the procedure as a way to help reduce
 transmission of the virus through heterosexual sex.
 
 The campaign will initially target the army, police officers and university
 students, Innocent Nyaruhirira, the country's health minister, said. The
 campaign will aim to reduce the cost of the procedure, which can be as much
 as $55 at private hospitals, as well as ensure it is covered by basic
 health insurance policies.
 
 According to McClatchy/Herald, many men in the country have already
 received the procedure. Justin Gatete -- a nurse at a clinic in Kigali,
 Rwanda's capital -- said he performed more than 1,000 circumcisions last
 year.
 
 "We're not going to wake up one morning and have all men be circumcised,"
 Anita Asiimwe, director of Rwanda's Treatment and Research AIDS Center,
 said, adding, "We need to see how best to implement this."
 
 Health experts from the U.S. are helping Rwandan officials develop the
 campaign. The Bush administration has said it would allocate funds in the
 President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to make circumcision more
 accessible in Africa. Kenya, Swaziland and Zambia have announced plans to
 make the procedure available in public
 clinics, McClatchy/Herald reports (McClatchy/Miami Herald, 2/24).
 
 
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