HIV Prevention: Male Circumcision Program Will Reach 25,000 Tanzanian Men

Dec 1, 2010

In the past week, 100 men were circumcised at the Bariadi District Hospital in northern Tanzania’s Shinyanga region, through a new male circumcision program launched on November 23.  The program, part of an IntraHealth International-led HIV prevention effort, aims to reach 25,000 males with circumcision services by September 2011. The surgery can reduce a man’s risk of being infected with HIV by a female partner by as much as 60%, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Although Tanzanian medical students are trained in male circumcision it had not been a priority intervention until the government of Tanzania recognized it as an important HIV prevention strategy and released its national male circumcision strategy in June 2010. 

In November 2010, IntraHealth joined other organizations funded by the US Government’s PEPFAR in Tanzania to support the Ministry of Health-led initiative to promote and expand male circumcision services. The Provider-Initiated Testing and Counseling Project has trained 12 providers so far to offer male circumcision services in the Bariadi District of the Shinyanga region, where men are traditionally uncircumcised. In this region, HIV prevalence is relatively high (7.4%, compared to the national rate estimated at 5.7%*) and male circumcision rates are relatively low (26.5%, compared to the national rate estimated at 70%*). The Ministry of Health estimates that there are about 642,000 uncircumcised men and boys (between the ages of 10 and 34), in Shinyanga. Recognizing this need, IntraHealth is working with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the National AIDS Control Program to scale up services to cover the entire Shinyanga region.

Following on UNAIDS and WHO guidance that male circumcision be part of a comprehensive HIV prevention package, including HIV counseling and testing services, the Ministry of Health has integrated male circumcision services into its overall strategy. The IntraHealth-led project is training Bariadi health workers—including doctors, clinical officers, and nurses—to offer a comprehensive minimum package.

The package includes: group education on male circumcision and the benefits related to HIV prevention; individual HIV counseling and testing; information on HIV prevention and risky behavior; a pre-operative physical assessment including screening and treatment, if necessary, for sexually transmitted infections; male circumcision surgical procedure; post-operative follow-up in 48 hours and seven days; and referrals to other support services.

The IntraHealth-led Provider-Initiated Testing and Counseling Project is funded by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

* Progress in male circumcision scale-up: country implementation and research update, WHO and UNAIDS, June 2010.