Page 144 - SAHCS HIVMed Journal Vol 20 No 1 2019
P. 144

Page 4 of 7  Original Research


              TABLE 1: Demographic characteristics, circumcision status and awareness about   statistical significance in the univariate model and were then
              medical male circumcision services (N = 136).         taken into the multivariate model (Table 3).
              Characteristics             n           %
              How old are you? n = 135
              17–20 years                37           27.1          Uncircumcised respondents ranked the following, in order
              21–24 years                68           50.0          of  importance, as reasons why they decided not to get
              25–28 years                17           12.7          circumcised: (1) surgery complications or safety of MC
              29+ years                  14           10.2          (70.0%, n = 40), (2) MC does not guarantee 100% protection
              What is your marital status? n = 134                  against HIV and other STIs (62.2, n = 37), (3) pain during and
              Single                     114          85.1          after surgery (57.1%, n = 42), (4) post-surgery abstinence from
              Married                    12           8.9           sex for 6 weeks (62.5%, n = 40), and (5) long healing time after
              Cohabiting                  8           6.0           MC (64.1, n = 39) (Table 2a and Table 2b).
              Study site (n = 136)
              ZESCO Training Centre      22           16.3
              Northern Technical College  38          28.1          Having the knowledge that MC reduces the risk of female to
              Biomedical Science College  25          18.5          male HIV transmission (aOR = 3.65; 95% CI: 3.12–11.67) and
              Zambia ICT College         17           12.6          the belief that the medical procedure is safe (aOR = 5.13; 95%
              Copperbelt University      33           24.4          CI: 2.09–14.82) were two statistically significant factors that
              Which religious denomination do you belong to? (n = 136)  were associated with being circumcised after controlling for
              Christian                  132          97.0          all other factors (Table 3). The perceptions that MC promotes
              Muslim                      1           0.7           promiscuous behaviour (aOR = 0.20; 95% CI: 0.07–0.61) and
              None                        2           1.5
              Are you circumcised? (n = 131)                        that sexual sensitivity is the same for both circumcised and
              Yes                        82           62.6          uncircumcised men (aOR = 0.13; 95% CI: 0.02–0.80) were both
              No                         44           33.6          associated with being uncircumcised after controlling for all
              No response                 5           3.8           other factors.
              Which circumcision type did you undergo? (n = 82)
              Medical                    78           96.3          Discussion
              Traditional                 3           3.7
              Are you considering to get circumcised in future? (n = 44)  Of the total 136 students who consented to participate in the
              Yes                        38           74.5          study, 63.0% were circumcised, and of those, 96.0% were
              No                          8           15.7          medically circumcised. Half of all students were aged 21–24
              Don’t know                  5           9.8
              Should VMMC be promoted in non-circumcising communities? (n = 136)  years.  Nearly  all  the  students  (97.7%)  were  aware  about
              Yes                        123          90.4          medical MC and the majority (96.8%) knew that MC services
              No                          3           2.2           in government health facilities were free. Those who
              Don’t know                  8           5.9           perceived the circumcision procedure to be ‘safe’ and knew
              Have you ever seen or heard messages on VMMC?         that it reduced female to male HIV transmission risk were
              Yes                        130          97.7          more likely  to be  circumcised.  The perceptions  that  MC
              No                          3           2.3           promotes ‘promiscuous behaviour’ and that sexual sensitivity
              Do you know of a place where VMMC procedures are done?
              Yes                        125          91.9          is the ‘same’ regardless of circumcision status were associated
              No                          4           3.0           with not being circumcised.
              Missing                     7           5.1
              Are male circumcision services provided for free in public hospitals or clinics? (n = 136)  One encouraging finding of this study was that knowledge
              Yes                        122          39.7          about VMMC was higher compared to studies conducted
              No                          4           2.9           in  Botswana, Tanzania  and  Zimbabwe. 10,12,14   However,  the
              Don’t know                 10           7.3
              Where are VMMC procedures done? (multiple responses)  observed differences in levels of VMMC acceptability in other
                                                                                                                 15
              Government hospital        110          88.0          studies could be explained by the diverse cultural settings.  In
              Government clinic          79           63.2          addition, participants from higher learning institutions are
              Private hospital           34           27.6          more likely to be exposed to information on VMMC. Our study
              Private hospital           27           21.6          further confirms the assertion from previous reports that
              Other (NGOs, mobile services)  3        2.4           males with more knowledge about benefits and risks of VMMC
              Describe how easy or difficult is it to get VMMC site(s)  services are more likely to  accept  circumcision compared
              Easily accessed            91           70.0          to  those with less knowledge. 13,16,17  Therefore, targeting
              Accessed with difficulty   25           18.4
              Don’t know                  5           3.7           information, education and communication (IEC) materials
              Missing                    11           8.1           about VMMC services to college or university students would
              How often are VMMC services available?                further encourage adolescents and young men to take up
              Daily (7 days a week)      41           30.1          MC. Additionally, we found that the college population was
              At least twice in a week   18           13.2          generally young, single or in uncommitted relationships. This
              Weekdays (Monday to Friday)  35         25.7          could be explained by the fact that at the time of interviews, we
              Don’t know                 27           19.9          did not find older age groups doing full-time block lectures.
              Missing                    11           8.1
                                                                    Most students aged 30 years and older attend school part-time
              NGO, non-governmental organisation; VMMC, voluntary medical male circumcision; ZESCO,
              Zambia Electricity Supply Company.                    because they are also engaged in full-time employment.
                                           http://www.sajhivmed.org.za 137  Open Access
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