SMC to complement ABC

Uganda’s first lady and minister for Karamoja affairs counted safe male circumcision (SMC) among the HIV prevention interventions that must be implemented synergistically, along with HIV counselling and testing, elimination of mother-to-child transmission (EMTCT), management of sexually transmitted infections, and antiretroviral treatment, New Vision reports. Speaking at an EMTCT event, First Lady Janet Museveni called for a return to “ABC” (abstinence, being faithful to one partner, and condom use) as the primary HIV prevention strategy in the country. She expressed concern that HIV transmission continues while acknowledging recent progress in reducing the annual number of new infections in Uganda from 147,000 in 2011 to 99,000 in 2014 (New Vision, 7 December 2015).