The MEC for Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo will scale up the Medical Male Circumcision campaign in tertiary institutions as he takes it to the University of Zululand on Monday, 25 October 2010.
The Medical Male Circumcision Campaign was launched in April following a shared commitment from traditional leaders and government of KwaZulu-Natal to roll out this campaign as part of the comprehensive HIV prevention arsenal. In the same month a HIV Counselling and Testing Campaign was launched in the province thereby cementing the HIV prevention drive of government.
Since the launch of these campaigns, 878 769 people have been counselled for HIV and of these 710 650 have taken the HIV test and a total of 10 229 men and boys have been circumcised in the province. uThungulu district aims at counselling and testing 260 112 people by June next year (2011) and they are on track as they have counselled and tested 102 088 people in just five months. The district has circumcised 1 933 men and boys since the launch of the campaign. The district is one of the top five districts, in the province, with a HIV prevalence rate of above 40%, currently at 46,6%.
“The roll out of medical male circumcision at the tertiary institutions will assist in reducing the spread of HIV among young men where the HIV burden is the highest in the province, between the ages of 15 to 24 years. There is also a rising trend among those in the age group 10 to 14 years. It is for this reason that we want to increase our prevention efforts in those age groups” says the MEC for Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo.
The MEC invites the media to this event to take place as follows:
Date: 25 October 2010
Time: 09h00
Venue: University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa
Enquiries:
Mr Mic Maxon
Tel: 033 395 3130
Fax: 033 342 0429
Cell: 083 447 2869
E-mail: chris.maxon@kznhealth.gov.za
