Page 145 - SAHCS HIVMed Journal Vol 20 No 1 2019

Page 5 of 7 Original Research

TABLE 2a: Exposure variables for male circumcision status among college youth, Ndola – 2016 (N = 136).
Variable Response
n Agree Disagree %
What were the important reasons as to why you decided to get circumcised?† (n = 82)
MC reduces the chances of HIV 80 72 8 90.0
MC reduces the chances of STIs 80 71 9 88.8
MC improves penile hygiene 74 69 5 93.2
MC services are provided for free 79 69 10 87.3
MC facilities are near where I live 78 68 10 87.2
MC reduce chances of penile cancer 80 72 8 90.0
MC services are of good quality 79 76 3 96.2
MC is a safe procedure 73 66 7 90.4
MC enhances sexual pleasure 80 52 28 65.0
What are the important reasons as to why you are not circumcised? (n = 44)
Concerned about MC complication 40 28 12 70.0
MC does not guarantee 100% protect against STI/HIV 37 23 14 62.2
Fear of pain 42 24 18 57.1
Six weeks post-surgery abstinence 40 25 15 62.5
Long healing after MC 39 25 14 64.1
MC is not a safe procedure 38 18 20 47.4
Fear of injections 40 18 22 45.0
MC promotes promiscuity 40 19 21 47.5
MC, male circumcision; STI, sexually transmitted infection; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval; aOR, adjusted odds ratio.
n = number who consented or responded to the question (variable); the valid counts for analyses (%).
†, Reasons for MC, n = 82; Not Applicable (N/A) = 54; Missing = (82-n’) per each variable.
TABLE 2b: Exposure variables for male circumcision status among college youth, Ndola – 2016 (N = 136).
Variable Response
OR 95% CI p aOR 95% CI p
Factors associated with circumcision status among male college students (N = 136)
MC reduces chances of contracting HIV 4.48 1.26–15.94 0.01 5.13 2.09–14.82 < 0.01
MC is a safe procedure/surgery 4.05 1.12–14.80 0.05 3.65 3.12–11.67 < 0.01
Circumcised and uncircumcised are same 0.19 0.04–0.86 0.03 0.13 0.02–0.80 0.02
MC promotes promiscuous behaviour 0.23 0.09–0.57 < 0.01 0.20 0.07–0.61 < 0.01
MC, male circumcision; STI, sexually transmitted infection; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval; aOR, adjusted odds ratio.
n = number who consented or responded to the question (variable); the valid counts for analyses (%).
TABLE 3: Factors associated with circumcision status among male college Therefore, the study could not establish the proportion of the
students, Ndola, Zambia (N = 136). males aged above 35 years; hence, further studies may be
Factors MC Status OR 95% CI p
Yes No required to ascertain this age group’s views around MC.
n % n %
MC reduces chances of contracting HIV This study found that respondents who had knowledge of
Yes 74 94.9 33 80.5 4.49 1.26–15.95 0.03 the partial protective effect of MC against female to male HIV
No 4 5.1 8 19.5 1 1 - transmission were more likely to be medically circumcised.
MC is a safe procedure It follows that gaps in knowledge of the protective effect
Yes 74 94.9 32 82.1 4.05 1.12–14.80 0.05 of MC against HIV and other STIs could be one reason for
No 4 5.1 7 17.9 1 1 - the low VMMC uptake among uncircumcised HIV-negative,
Women prefer circumcised men over uncircumcised men
Yes 53 68.0 18 46.2 2.47 1.12–5.44 0.04 young males. Similarly, a study in Swaziland documented
No 25 32.0 21 53.8 1 1 - that the reduced risk of HIV infection was the most important
MC is an expensive procedure reason for undergoing VMMC (55.4%), followed by reduced
Yes 28 36.4 4 10.8 4.71 1.52–14.70 < 0.01 risk of other STIs (43.5%) and improved genital hygiene
No 49 63.6 33 89.2 1 1 - (21.1%). Similar studies have shown that having the
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Transport to MC facility is costly knowledge that ‘VMMC reduces the risk of getting STIs’
Yes 26 33.3 5 13.5 3.20 1.12–9.18 0.05 13,16,17
No 52 66.7 32 86.5 1 1 - had a significant effect on the acceptability of VMMC.
Concerned about the quality of MC services Uncircumcised respondents who had this knowledge were
Yes 39 50.7 10 27.8 2.67 1.14–6.28 0.04 found to be four times more likely to accept VMMC compared
No 38 49.3 26 72.2 1 1 - to their counterparts. Therefore, interventions to increase
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MC promotes promiscuous behaviour the awareness of reduced risk of HIV infection may serve to
Yes 12 16.2 16 45.7 0.23 0.09–0.57 < 0.01 motivate men to undertake VMMC.
No 62 83.8 19 54.3 1 1 -
Uncircumcised and circumcised men are the same
Yes 22 59.5 28 53.9 0.19 0.04–0.86 0.03 Previous studies have documented a strong association between
No 55 71.4 24 46.1 1 1 - perceptions of safety and VMMC service uptake. Similarly, the
MC, male circumcision; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval. ‘cost and quality’ of VMMC services are among well-described

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