1,2million. That’s the number of men that Zimbabwe wants to have circumcised by 2015 through its Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) programme led by Population Services International (PSI).
Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, HIV, AIDS and TB Specialist, Owen Mugurungi was quoted recently as saying that if VMMC was to make an impact in the country, it was necessary to push to have at least 80% of men in the 15 to 49 age group, circumcised. That comes to an even bigger number; about 1,9 million men.
He said that this would reduce the number of new HIV infections from the current 130 000 per year to less than 50 000 per year by 2020.
Studies have shown that circumcision reduces the chances of one contracting HIV by 60%, among other health and pleasure benefits. Since 2013, more than 200 000 males have been circumcised in the country. Just two months ago PSI stepped up its campaign in rural areas.
Meanwhile, celebrities like Jah Prayzah, Albert Nyathi, Sulumani Chimbetu, Peter Moyo, Stunner and Winky D have been circumcised and made ambassadors for the cause in an effort to get more men out to circumcision centres.
However, despite all of this and despite the ‘Go! Go! Go! Do it now! Save yourself! Save your partner!’ messaging on billboards, in the newspapers, on radio and on TV, there are still many men who resist the idea of circumcision. After an article by Big Ziso on our site in 2012, Zimbo Jam has spoken to a number of Zimbabwean men about circumcision and here are the most common reasons why many have not ventured out to Spilhaus or other similar centres…
1. What if they make a mistake?
One of the biggest fears among the Zimbabwean men we’ve spoken to is that something will go wrong with the scalpel and more than just the foreskin goes. One man said “I saw a guy who came to the centre and complained of a swollen penis after a circumcision a few days before. I chickened out there and then. What if that happens to me?”
2. Six weeks is a long time
When you get circumcised you need to take a break from sexual activity for at least six weeks. For a number of men that is too long a wait. “Six days dzinotorwadza mumwe wangu, what more six weeks. Unenge wafa zve (Six days without sex is painful enough, what more with six weeks. It will kill you).” Was one comment we got.
3. What do they do with my foreskin?
There are some superstitions about what happens to the foreskins from circumcision with some rumours saying they are used in rituals. This has been dismissed as false as the foreskins are incinerated, but it still holds some people back.
4. Will I last too long?
We call this the Energiser battery concern. One of the benefits of circumcision is that it enables one to last longer in bed. This means that you can please your woman more which is all thumbs up. But! One worried Harare man wanted to know that if he didn’t have a problem with performance in bed, if he actually had the opposite problem, of going on so long that his woman sometimes had two orgasms or got tired before he came, would circumcision just not make it worse?
5. I’m married & have one partner
A number of men believe that since they are married and don’t sleep around there is no need to get circumcised as an HIV prevention measure. As you know, a woman who is a sexual partner to a circumcised man has a lower risk of developing cervical cancer. When quizzed about this dimension, one man, who is actually a foreigner by origin, said that he just made sure he washed his penis thoroughly. “It’s all about good hygiene. If nothing lives there, nothing will be passed on.”
6. What exactly do they cut off?
There is great confusion in some quarters about what exactly is cut off during circumcision. “So this foreskin,” was one question, “where exactly does it start, and where exactly does it end. Me I need to be sure before they cut it off.”
7. Someone will be touching me there!?
Ithyphallophobia is the fear of seeing, thinking about or having an erect penis. We couldn’t find the word for ‘fear of having other people touch your penis’. It exists though, in irrational quantities and is the reason some men won’t let anyone who is not their trusted partner, touch them there.
8. My woman said no
Some women apparently don’t want to even think of their men’s members near a scalpel. Some men haven’t ventured for circumcision because their women are not that enthusiastic about it. Perhaps the campaigns need to target women as well so that they can encourage their men to just do it.