New to the Site
Adverse Event Action Guide for Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision by Surgery, 2014 (2014, PDF, 476 KB). A collaborative work between Population Services International (PSI) and the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA), together with contributions from numerous clinical and public health experts, this Guide is intended for use by programmes that are implementing VMMC under local anaesthesia in adolescent and adult males as part of a comprehensive HIV prevention strategy.
New Demand Creation Resources
[VMMC] Dozens of resources from the former Creating Demand for Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) website are now available on the Clearinghouse. They include materials from demand creation campaigns in priority countries, case studies of promising practices in VMMC demand creation based on firsthand reporting in seven countries, and a video and reports on the regional meeting held last year in Zambia.
Global Update on the Health Sector Response to HIV, July 2014 (2014, PDF, 3.4 MB). Uptake of voluntary medical male circumcision in 14 priority countries in Africa rose from 1.7 million in 2012 to nearly 2.7 million in 2013, reports the World Health Organization (WHO). This WHO update on the health sector’s global response to HIV includes a section on VMMC scale-up (pp. 7-9).
Safety, Effectiveness and Acceptability of the PrePex Device for Adult Male Circumcision in Kenya (2014, PDF, 198 KB). This study, which enrolled 427 men, ages 18–49, at one fixed and two outreach clinics in Kenya, sought to assess the safety, effectiveness, and acceptability of the PrePex device for adult medical male circumcision in routine service delivery.
Tchova Tchova CCP Male Circumcision Success Story (2014, 4:33 minutes). This video tells the story of 24-year-old Edilson Muthemba, who chose to get circumcised at the Patrice Lumumba Health Center in Xai- Xai, Mozambique. After having the procedure, Edilson became an advocate for VMMC in the region.
VMMC for HIV Prevention: Improving Quality, Efficiency, Cost Effectiveness, and Demand for Services during an Accelerated Scale-up. These articles form a new PLOS ONE collection on voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC); they highlight key findings from several countries that have moved to high-volume VMMC services, explore current challenges, and offer recommendations for programmes as they accelerate scale-up of VMMC services in their countries.
New Facilitator's Guide and Learner's Workbook accompany the Manual for Early Infant Male Circumcision under Local Anaesthesia. This comprehensive, competency-based training package was developed by PEPFAR and its implementing partners and consists of a facilitator’s guide and learners’ workbook, which can be used to plan and implement blended (self-paced and group-based) training designs as well as prolonged post-training mentorship of providers until they have reached the desired level of competency.
Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) Health Care Waste Management (HCWM) Toolkit (2013, PDF, 1.18 MB). This toolkit was developed to assist program implementers with the waste management challenges associated with VMMC programs; it contains guidance on the development of a waste management system to support VMMC programs, standard operating procedures on waste disposal and training tools for waste handlers and transporters. Based on South African National Standards, International Best Practice and the SCMS Health Care Waste Management Model, this comprehensive set of tools provides guidance on building HCWM operational infrastructure, improves staff capacity and aids stakeholders in managing the waste generated by VMMC campaigns.
ICASA 2013 VMMC Conference Abstracts
Data and lessons learned on the scale up of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) for HIV prevention were presented at the 17th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA) in Cape Town, South Africa, 7- 11 December 2013. The conference abstracts on VMMC are available.
Engaging Local Media in VMMC Scale-Up: A Case Study from Kenya (2013, PDF, 1 MB) In Kenya, ongoing, well informed media coverage of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) has helped create a supportive environment for scale-up. A case study documents how partners in Kenya coordinated their efforts to achieve this result, highlighting the lessons learned from 2008 to 2012, to assist other countries with effectively engaging the media in their VMMC scale-up efforts.
Guideline on the Use of Devices for Adult Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention (PDF, 1.32 MB) offers an evidence-based recommendation from the World Health Organization on the use of WHO prequalified adult male circumcision devices in resource-limited settings with high HIV prevalence. It describes conditions for safe use of such devices, as well as issues for programmes to consider as they plan the introduction and use of these devices for HIV prevention.
SYMMACS, the Systematic Monitoring of the Male Circumcision Scale-up in Eastern and Southern Africa: Final Report of Results from Kenya , South Africa , Tanzania and Zimbabwe (2013, PDF, 1.65 MB). SYMMACS, the Systematic Monitoring of the Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Scale-up, is the first systematic assessment of quality of services, surgical efficiencies, provider performance, and related aspects of VMMC service delivery in four countries: Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. This multi-country cross-sectional study, conducted in both 2011 and 2012, has identified strengths of these programs and areas for improvement, which have informed programming in all four countries. This report is also available on the Research to Prevention website.
HIV Prevention in Swaziland: the role of the workplace (2013, 4:39 minutes)
Produced by the International Labour Organization, this video shows how workplace programmes are helping the government and its partners provide health information, reduce stigma, and link employees to HIV-prevention services, including voluntary medical male circumcision.
This report (PDF, 2 MB) from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS documents reductions in new HIV infections of 52 percent among children and 33 percent among adults and children combined since 2001. The report’s update on the progress of voluntary medical male circumcision (PDF, 68 KB) programmes in 16 countries shows that the cumulative number of men circumcised through 14 of these programmes doubled in 2012.
HATiP: HIV & AIDS Treamtent in Practice, Issue 205, 9 September 2013 (2013, PDF, 200 KB). This issue discusses news from the 6th South African AIDS Conference and the 2nd International HIV Social Sciences and Humanities Conference.
Uganda National Guidelines: Managing Healthcare Waste Generated from Safe Male Circumcision Procedures(PDF, 1.5 MB). National guidelines have been developed to guide health service providers in managing waste generated from safe male circumcision at both static and outreach service delivery points in Uganda. This document describes safe, reliable methods for handling and treating such waste to avoid serious public health consequences and substantial environmental impact.
The Circumcision Impact Study (PDF, 652 KB), a series of three household surveys conducted in Kisumu, Kenya, from 2008 to 2013 found that the percentage of men in Kisumu who are circumcised nearly doubled over the first four years of Kenya's voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) programme, with no associated increases in reported HIV-risk behavior.
This guide (2013, PDF, 765 KB) and its accompanying appendices (1.30 MB) serve as a resource for partners implementing VMMC programmes supported by the US President's Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), but may also be useful to others seeking to improve the monitoring of VMMC services.
IAS 2013 conference abstracts
Voluntary medical male circumcision for HIV prevention was highlighted in two sessions and more than 30 presentations and abstracts at the 7th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2013) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention. WHO Technical Advisory Group on Innovations in Male Circumcision: Evaluation of Two Adult Devices (2013, PDF, 651 KB). The World Health Organization (WHO) Technical Advisory Group on innovations in Male Circumcision (TAG) met at WHO headquarters in Geneva in January 2013 to review the clinical performance of two specific male circumcision devices (PrePex and ShangRing) as part of the product review in the WHO Prequalification of Male Circumcision Devices Programme.
Beginning with the End in Mind (2011, PDF, 1.19 MB). This guide contains 12 recommendations on how to design pilot projects with scaling up in mind, as well as a checklist that provides a quick overview of the scalability of a project that is being planned, proposed, or in the process of implementation.
Factors affecting adult attendance at voluntary medical male circumcision services in Tanzania (2013, 4:12 minutes)
In 2009, the Government of Tanzania embarked on scaling up voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) services for HIV prevention in 8 priority regions, with the aim of serving 2.8 million boys and men ages 10–34 years by 2013. By mid-2012, more than 110,000 boys and men in Iringa and Njombe regions had received VMMC. The majority (85%) of these VMMC clients were under 19 years old (average age, 16 years). This study aimed to identify potential barriers and facilitators to VMMC among older men.
Joint PEPFAR/WHO Meeting on Accelerating the Scale-up of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) for HIV Prevention in East and Southern Africa
From 25–28 September 2012, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the World Health Organization (WHO) jointly sponsored a regional technical meeting, which focused on accelerating scale-up of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) in East and Southern Africa. Presentations given during this meeting provided information and guidance on a number of issues that are critical to successful scale-up and implementation of VMMC programs.
Male circumcision at CROI 2013
The 20th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, held 3-6 March in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, featured two sessions about voluntary medical male circumcision.
SAYWHAT Male Circumcision Ambassador Training Workshop, 12 May 2011, Spilhaus, Harare
Students and Youths Working on Reproductive Health Action Team (SAYWHAT) is an institution that champions responses that address the Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) challenges of students in the tertiary institutions of Zimbabwe.
PEPFAR’s Best Practices for Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Site Operations: A Service Guide for Site Operations. PEPFAR's Best Practices for Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Site Operations: A Service Guide for Site Operations, provides implementing partners with a comprehensive and consistent process for establishing new VMMC services for HIV prevention.
A Call to Action for Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention Satellite — AIDS 2012 Conference
On 23 July, 2012 in Washington, D.C., the PEPFAR, UNAIDS, WHO , AVAC, and Champions for an HIV-Free Generation brought together African political and traditional leaders as well as key figures in the international HIV response at a satellite event at the 19th International AIDS Conference 2012. This unique group of leaders shared their views on the challenges and solutions to Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) for HIV prevention in East and Southern Africa.
Country Operational Plan for the Scale-up of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision in Zambia, 2012 - 2015 (2012, PDF, 1.4 MB). Zambia Ministry of Health, April 2012
National Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) Communication and Advocacy Strategy 2012-2015 (2012, PDF, 904 KB). Zambia Ministry of Health, April 2012
Zimbabwe parliamentarians opt for male circumcision
On June 22, 2012, 35 parliamentarians got circumcised to set an example for their constituents and demonstrate their commitment to HIV prevention. Another 125 parliamentarians, together with their spouses were tested and counselled for HIV on the day of the event. This short video (5:37 minutes) from PSI/Zimbabwe tells the story, with footage of the event and interviews with the parliamentarians.
A Call to Action on Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision: Implementing a Key Component of Combination HIV Prevention (2012, PDF, 523 KB). Nearly five years ago, UNAIDS and WHO issued recommendations for voluntary medical male circumcision in countries with high HIV prevalence and low rates of circumcision. As of March 2012, the world was only about 8 percent of the way to reaching the target of circumcising at least 80 percent of adult males between ages 15 and 49 in 14 priority countries.
A press release (PDF, 233 KB) is also available.