R300m US boost for medical male circumcision to fight HIV

Medical male circumcision has been given a boost thanks to funding of $24-million (more than R300-million) from US President Barack Obama’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR).

The funds will be allocated over a five-year period.

Medical male circumcision (MMC) has been widely promoted as a way to curb the HIV infection rate as it has been proven to reduce a man’s lifetime risk of HIV acquisition through heterosexual sex by up to 60%.

In the wake of World Aids Day, the funding will be a huge relief to those in need.

Rachael Rawlinson, the chief operations officer at CareWorks, said the funding will be allocated to areas such as KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Gauteng where the risk is high.

According to Rawlinson CareWorks, the Department of Health and other MMC partners have made a difference to the lives of more than 2.3million men who have opted for the MMC route.

“Soon SA will reach a point where people on antiretroviral treatment will outstrip new HIV infections, which signifies a turning point in the HIV epidemic.

“MMC plays a critical role in reaching this turning point and will continue to show public health benefits for years to come,” says Rawlinson.

By 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) wants 25million men across the 14 priority countries in Africa to be circumcised.

This effectively means that the annual number of MMCs performed in these regions must more than double to attain the target.

Achieving 80% MMC prevalence among sexually active men in the next few years, could avert 3.4million HIV infections by 2025.

“Most of the countries launched their MMC programmes in 2008, and targets were based on the level of HIV risk that each country faced.

“Even though SA’s target was among the highest, the results are very positive,” Rawlinson added.