Workplace HIV Services Provide a Turning Point for Men in Tanzania ’s Kagera Region

By Mary Goodluck Mndeme , Communications officer, IntraHealth International Mary Goodluck Mndeme, Communications Officer for IntraHealth, speaks to Hamisi Kuya about his VMMC experience.November 01, 2019One morning in May 2019, I met Hamisi Kuya (36), a father of two who received voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) services through IntraHealth International.Hamisi lives near Kagera, in the northwestern corner of Tanzania, where he has been working at the Kagera Sugar Plantation for some years.In his area, like in many communities in the region, many people believe that the VMMC procedure is very painful and takes a long time to heal. For some of them who are sexually active, the prospect of abstaining from sex for six weeks while healing is discouraging." After the benefits were explained to me, I became less worried about the pain and I decided to go to the clinic for the service.”Hamisi, however, learned that VMMC could help protect him from HIV, reducing his risk of acquiring the virus through heterosexual intercourseby about 60%.So, unlike some of his peers, Hamisi decided to take a daring step.“When I first heard of VMMC during a meeting with service providers from Kagera Sugar Hospital, I was so scared to go for it because I believed that it was a very painful process,” Hamisi says.“I told myself that circumcision was not for me, nor for my family and generation. However, Dr. Yustina—a medical male circumcision provider&md...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: HIV & AIDS Community Engagement Source Type: news