No! It’s not!
Even circumcised men can get HIV. It only offers some partial protection against HIV, and that means circumcised men must use condoms too!
It now dominates the print media, the air waves and, of course, the bill boards.
Political leaders have now joined forces with relevant stakeholders and are encouraging men to go for circumcision. The authorities are worried about the pace which is a bit slow, and that the numbers are not very impressive as one would think they would be today.
This Sunday we talk to the few men who have done it already and the many that are still to show interest.
Circumcision is the removal of the skin covering the head of the penis, often called the foreskin, or ‘letlalo la bonna’, as you have probably heard it in one of the radio jingles.
It has been practiced by some communities in our country for so many years. It has long been practiced with some cultural practices such as initiative schools for males.
In some countries it is a religious practice.
Abstinence, condoms and faithfulness to one partner have long been emphasised as key measures to prevent HIV infection. As the world spends sleepless nights to find ways to stop the HIV spread, behaviour change, knowing one’s status and, lately, Circumcision, are other important strategies that we as a society should try to fight HIV.
We now know that there is compelling evidence that circumcision reduces chances of HIV infection in heterosexual men by 60 percent.
While it is good to know that our country accepted the WHO recommendation to try circumcision as an additional tool to the existing package for prevention, some people think this is a magic preventative tool, or a lifelong condom.
They think that after the procedure one can just do it without the latex rubber condom and walk away free. Let me not go far and share with you an extract from the WHO website.
“WHO/UNAIDS recommendations emphasize that male circumcision should be considered an efficacious intervention for HIV prevention in countries and regions with heterosexual epidemics, high HIV and low male circumcision prevalence. Male circumcision provides only partial protection, and therefore should be only one element of a comprehensive HIV prevention package which includes: the provision of HIV testing and counselling services, treatment for sexually transmitted infections, the promotion of safer sex practices, the provision of male and female condoms and promotion of their correct and consistent use.”
The message is clear and straight forward.
Circumcision should be regarded as an additional measure that all men need to reduce chances of HIV infection. However, men should understand that they also have a responsibility to protect women from contracting HIV, and that is through the utilisation of other existing measures such as correct and consistent use of condoms, faithfulness to one partner, and knowing their HIV status.
Why are people not really getting the message clear? Maybe we should turn to the jingles, talk shows and billboards and find out if they are really doing a good job or missing some good piece of information that ordinary guys need.
Maybe they never make it clear as to when circumcision really offers that partial protection, as an ordinary man would often ask?
Does it really help when a condom bursts or during times when one would occasionally have unprotected intercourse? I decided to mention this because some people think that circumcision is a licence to unprotected sex, when it’s not!
All we need to understand is that circumcision offers some partial protection against HIV. Studies say it reduces chances of infection in heterosexual men by 60 percent, and this does not mean by 100 percent. It should also be understood that circumcision offers no protection (0 percent) to women against HIV. So, this means women should reject any request for unprotected intercourse from uncircumcised men as long as circumstances allow.
Finally, it is important to understand that any contact resulting from condom burst or an unsafe ‘once off’, as it is known in the street, puts one at risk of infection.
The best thing to do after circumcision (after healing period) is to consistently and properly use a condom, and other measures as mentioned before.
Circumcised men can still get HIV if they don’t use condoms!
