Day 98, Whilst the UK government impresses on health initiatives such as HPV vaccination, five a day, and fit for life campaigns in South Africa the emphasis is clearly on HIV. As such, on the basis of minimal but convincing evidence, the new push here is for male circumcisions. The figures show a slight reduction in HIV transmission in those not sporting hood ornaments. Of course this is slightly tempered by the increased rate of transmission in the first six weeks where we hope these eager young men are not keen to test drive the new look.
As part of this initiative camps are being set up regularly where men are encouraged to come, get tested and get their circumcisions done. I got my first experience of these camps today up in Mosvold, in the foothills of the Lebombo mountains. The camp had been set up in a school on this occasion and pupils wishing to make the lifestyle choice were free to rock up after finishing their exams.
The setup is to “process” the willing candidates in a conveyor belt like system whereby they start with being counselled and receiving a rapid HIV test. Should they be negative and consent they get moved to the operating theatre. There they were cleaned and given local anaesthetic by the nurse before it was our turn the boys into men.
The theatre was a classroom divided into four cubicles by draped room dividers. Despite the rustic look our equipment was not unreasonable with even diathermy available. Once on the table it was up to me to do the deed. Of course I had never seen, let alone done a circumcision so I got shown one. I then was left to crack on with the others.
What surprised me more than the fact that I got that hang of it fairly quickly was the interest with which the patients were looking on at the process. I never imagined that anyone would want to watch that part of the anatomy being attacked with a scalpel. After it was done, they all walked out with a sheepish green and instructions not to play with themselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment