IRIN examines adult male circumcision campaign in Uganda

Nov 8 2012

As part of the Ugandan government's HIV prevention program, "[m]ore than 380,000 Ugandan men have been circumcised in the last two years," according to new data, IRIN reports. "Uganda's male circumcision program was launched in September 2010, targeting 80 percent of uncircumcised men -- about 4.2 million men -- by 2015," the news service writes, adding, "According to the Uganda AIDS Commission's (UAC) annual performance review of the National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan (2011/2012), 380,000 men were circumcised by March 2012 under the program."

"Just over one-quarter of Ugandan men are circumcised, but the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and UNAIDS together project that circumcising 4.2 million Ugandan men could halve the country's HIV incidence," according to IRIN. "The government says it hopes to circumcise one million men each year for the next three years," the news service adds. But "'[t]he scale up of medical male circumcision, a critical element of combination HIV prevention, is slow and has been undermined by lack of government support,' HIV civil society organizations said in a 16 October 10-point plan to halt new infections and save lives," IRIN writes, adding the groups cited a lack of funding, integration, and cooperation among non-profit organizations and the government. "The civil society activists said there was a need for the country's political leaders to unify their messaging when it came to male circumcision, otherwise they risk confusing the public about the government's position," according to the news service (11/6).