Page 119 - SAHCS HIVMed Journal Vol 20 No 1 2019

Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine
ISSN: (Online) 2078-6751, (Print) 1608-9693
Page 1 of 6 Original Research

Sexual behaviours, awareness and perceptions towards

voluntary medical male circumcision among students

in Dr Kenneth Kaunda District, South Africa

Authors: Background: Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) is regarded as the most cost-
Sam Mndzebele 1 effective intervention in reducing female-to-male transmission of HIV in countries where
Lebogang G. Matonyane 1
heterosexual transmission is the most prevalent mode of infection.
Affiliations: Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the awareness, sexual behaviours and
1 School of Public Health,
Sefako Makgatho Health perceptions of college students in Dr Kenneth Kaunda District, South Africa.
Sciences University, Pretoria, Method: A cross-sectional design was engaged among a sample of 400 students selected using
South Africa
a stratified random sampling method. Descriptive data analysis was engaged to analyse data
Corresponding author: using STATA 13.
Lebogang Matonyane,
[email protected]. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 23 years. About 50% of the respondents were
ac.za below the age of 23 years. The majority among the ethnic groups were black people and or
African people (87.5%), followed by people of mixed race (8.1%). Most of the students belonged
Dates:
Received: 28 Feb. 2018 to the Christian religion (94.7%), and about 91.3% were single, while only 6.0% lived with their
Accepted: 05 Feb. 2019 partners. Among those who were circumcised, a majority (78.0%) had undergone the MMC.
Published: 22 May 2019 About 76.5% of those residing in urban areas, and 80.6% residing in rural areas were
circumcised. About 90.3% of the participants had good awareness about VMMC. About 77.3%
How to cite this article: of the participants disagreed that VMMC reduces the size of the penis, while 57.0% felt that
Mndzebele S, Matonyane LG.
Sexual behaviours, awareness VMMC provides an individual with the status of being a real man in society. Only 14.3% felt
and perceptions towards that VMMC exposes the penis to environmental hazards. While almost half (47.7%) of the
voluntary medical male cohort had one sexual partner, about 20.9% had three or more sexual partners.
circumcision among students
in Dr Kenneth Kaunda Conclusion: The findings suggest that there is a high level of awareness on VMMC among
District, South Africa. S Afr J college students in relation to its positive role towards reducing STIs and the enhancement of
HIV Med. 2019;20(1), a846. penile hygiene.
https://doi.org/10.4102/
sajhivmed.v20i1.846 Keywords: Voluntary medical male circumcision; Sexual-behaviours; Awareness; Perceptions;
HIV testing.
Copyright:
© 2019. The Authors.
Licensee: AOSIS. This work
is licensed under the Introduction
Creative Commons
Attribution License. Male circumcision (MC) is regarded as one of the oldest and most common surgical procedures
performed worldwide. It is undertaken for religious, cultural, social and medical reasons. Due to
1
the increased use of surgical procedures in the 19th century and advancement in technology within
the health system, in the 20th century MC was introduced to some individuals whose culture did
not observe male circumcision. This was based on health-related and social reasons. In recent years,
voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) has evolved. The practice of circumcision commenced
in English-speaking countries only in the 19th century; in 2002, only half of the boys were circumcised
in the US, whereas other countries such as England and New Zealand had a fairly low circumcision
rate. In North Africa and most of West Africa, male circumcision is almost universal; this is in
1,2
contrast to Southern Africa, which has a low prevalence of circumcision but a high rate of HIV.
A study conducted in Zimbabwe in 2013 found that 50% of the students were willing to go for
3
VMMC, and 50.0% were willing to think about whether to do it or not. The following year, a similar
study indicated that only 0.05% of students were willing to go for circumcision whereas around
50.6% had reservations about undergoing the procedure. A study among students in the University
4
5
Read online: of Botswana found low circumcision prevalence. These studies indicate that in countries such as
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smart phone or South African context, there is reportedly moderate prevalence of circumcision among students in
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Training HIV/AIDS Programme (HEAIDS), which showed that 66.0% of the students were
http://www.sajhivmed.org.za 112 Open Access