Several faces smiled nervously back at me as I entered the clinic waiting room and shot a few pictures. While the young men sat and waited, they received juice and a sandwich. Although this didn’t detract from the fact that they were in a clinic, waiting to undergo a medical procedure, they could take comfort in the fact that it would be surgery-free and would be performed by trained professionals. You see, these men were about to be circumcised.
Now circumcision is not something we often discuss – although it probably should be. Apart from circumcision for cultural reasons, which in some cases receives bad publicity when things go wrong, there is a lesser-known benefit to circumcision. Circumcision has been proven to reduce the likelihood of HIV transmission by 60%.
The cultural practice aside, South Africa is generally telling a good story when it comes to circumcision, ART (antiretroviral treatment) and its effect on HIV transmission. Sure, there are differing reports from various studies about infection rates and the success of recent programs, but mostly they point to a decrease in HIV transmission.
According to the UNFPA (United Nation Population Fund) in 2012, 6,422,000 people in South Africa were living with HIV, of these, 2,002,000 (31.2%) were receiving ART. That’s a staggeringly large amount of people receiving tangible help. This intervention has added over 2 million human living years to our country. As well as being good news for the country, this is is wonderful news on a personal front. My wife and I help in a children’s home where many of the kids are on an ART programme, so we get to see first hand the great impact it’s having.
The ART program has also reduced HIV transmission from mothers to their children to about 2%, saving over 100 000 babies from the disease in 2013 alone. Combined with the increased living years of mothers, not only has the program potentially prevented hundreds of thousands of children from contracting the disease, but it has also prevented them from becoming AIDS orphans. Less kids in children’s homes is a great thing.
That said, the battle against HIV still requires much effort and there are a number of issues still to be addressed:
- the provision and promotion of correct and consistent use of male and female condoms;
- improvement of the ART program;
- the provision of HIV testing and counselling services; and
- the continued campaign of voluntary circumcision of hopefully 600 000 men before 2016.
This is the reason why Different.org decided to take on the Amcare project and the reason I get to walk around a circumcision clinic every few weeks to monitor the progress of the project. A combination of the government ART program and circumcision clinics, such as Amcare, could help a large portion of South Africans. Amcare are also supported by government as well as UNAIDS (Joint United Nations Programme addressing HIV and Aids) in trying to reach the government’s goal, and they are doing a great job.
The non-surgical method of circumcision practiced by Amcare has ensured that thousands receive safe circumcision, while simultaneously helping prevent the spread of HIV. As a person passionate about our country, the fight against HIV would rank as one of the biggest problems I would like to see continued. Although Amcare is only a small part in the bigger government HIV-fighting machine, it is changing lives and that gets me excited about being involved.
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