20100630
africanews

About 1000 men in Kenya over the age of 18 years in Nairobi's Kibera slum are being targeted in a new circumcision drive by the ministry of health, with many of them turning out to undergo the exercise. This comes at a time when vaccine trials have shown that people who had been circumcised are at a lower risk compared to their counterparts who have not been circumcised.

The exercise was received with mixed reaction with some turning out to undergo the cut .Others shunned the exercise saying they did not see the need to undergo In 2008 the Kenya Government adopted a policy that stipulates how all willing men, irrespective of their age, will undergo circumcision to reduce their chances of getting infected with HIV.

Since then the use of the surgical procedure in the country has been used as a standard HIV prevention strategy for the country. The policy also wants circumcision to be promoted and delivered to males of all ages in a manner that is culturally sensitive to minimize stigma that may be associated with a circumcised person.

Kenyan communities invoke religious, cultural or social reasons for circumcision, Circumcision involves removal of the foreskin. Studies have shown the skin’s inner mucosal surface to be the breeding ground for the virus because it has more immune cells vulnerable to HIV infection than the external surface.

Circumcisers will therefore, among many other things, be required to counsel males and use techniques that reduce or eliminate the pain associated with such surgical procedure, to encourage more men to be circumcised.

Top politicians from Kenya's Luo community have publicly admitted to getting circumcised as part of a campaign to tackle HIV/Aids. A high prevalence of HIV has been recorded among the Luo community and the government has recently introduced a programme to promote the practice to curb the spread of Aids.

The adoption of the policy by the government comes at time when results HIV vaccine trials indicate that circumcised volunteers had a lower risk of HIV infection compared to their uncircumcised counterparts.