Baby Tyrone was among the first infants in Botswana circumcised with one of two newly introduced medical devices for infants rolled out by the Ministry of Health earlier this year. Doctors and midwives were trained in January by experts from CDC. The new procedure is bloodless and requires no anesthesia or suturing.
Health officials say that not only will infant circumcision help protect boys from HIV when they become sexually active later in life, but that it also protects infants and boys from serious health complications such as urinary tract infections and paraphimosis, a condition that can lead to pain and swelling of the penis and may require surgery.
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The rollout of Early Infant Male Circumcision in Botswana may be one of several indications that the Safe Male Circumcision (SMC) program has turned a corner in Botswana. Between April 2013 and February 2014, the national SMC program recorded 42,679 circumcisions, about 85% of its annual target and 10,000 more than the previous year.
More targeted demand creation campaigns and a fleet of new mobile outreach clinics may help explain the recent upsurge in voluntary circumcisions in Botswana. Or perhaps it’s the promise of new SMC devices that make the procedure easier and faster.
The U.S. government through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has supported Botswana’s SMC program from its inception in 2009 with nearly $25 million and technical assistance over the past five years. In 2013, PEPFAR restructured its support to a single-partner model and chose Jhpiego, a development organization affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, as the single implementing partner for all CDC-funded activities related to the SMC program.
The Ministry of Health also plans to roll out the PrePex male circumcision device following the completion last year of a six-month pilot study sponsored by PEPFAR.
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“If we can integrate infant circumcision into the maternity wings and convince mothers that this is a good idea, this one can be a big win,” says Conrad Ntsuape, the national SMC Coordinator.
URL: http://www.cdc.gov/globalaids/success-stories/botswana_success.html
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