High turnout in Lilongwe mass circumcision campaign
Avoluntary male medical circumcision (VMMC) mass campaign currently underway in Lilongwe has received positive response with most sites beating their targets.
The campaign, jointly conducted by the Lilongwe District Health Office (DHO) and the International Training and Education Centre for Health (I-Tech), started on July 27 and will end on September 5, 2015.
I-Tech quality assurance and implementation coordinator, Martin Maulidi, said barely two weeks into the campaign, 4 000 clients, about half the targeted 8 500 males, have been circumcised.
Likuni Hospital male circumcision provider and team leader Patience Ndovi said her facility alone has already circumcised 500 males since the start of the campaign.
She said: “We experienced a low turnout during the first week, but now we are receiving a lot of clients every day.”
Ndovi attributed the high turnout to various mobilisation strategies such as roadshows and radio adverts.
The Lilongwe DHO and I-Tech Malawi are jointly implementing a five-year national HIV prevention programme in the district as part of the Ministry of Health agenda through the National Aids Commission(NAC) to circumcise 2.2 million males by 2016.
