Authorities encourage men to be circumcised

By LULU MARK and OLIVE SUKUN
HEALTH authorities are encouraging men, especially sexually-active ones, to be circumcised as it may help prevent the spread of the HIV-Aids.
National AIDS Council Secretariat director Dr Nick Dala said the epidemic was spreading rapidly around the country which called for effective awareness on available prevention options including male circumcision.
Dala said statistics showed an increase in the number of people between the ages of 18 and 30 infected with HIV. Therefore, it is important that men between 15 and 21 and sexually active men be circumcised.
Circumcision is the complete removal of the penis’ foreskin. Dala recommends the Chang-Ring circumcision procedure. The ring is clamped inside and outside the skin cutting off the blood supply to the penis. After seven days, the wound will heal and the ring falls out.
Dala said it was a safe and effective procedure. It takes up to 10 minutes to insert the ring at a clinic with no surgical procedures involved. It costs around K20.
A team from China is also in the country conducting training for health officials from “high burden” provinces.
Dala said circumcision was an important HIV-prevention method because it reduced the transmission of the virus through vaginal intercourse by up to 60 per cent.
Meanwhile, members of the Christian Leaders Alliance are supporting the HIV/AIDS-prevention campaign.
Alliance chairman Sir John Cardinal Ribat said many people were dying every day from it.
“We are not doing enough as leaders. All the church leaders have agreed to unite and work together in using the best tool that we know, the Holy Bible,” he said.
But they would need K2.5 million for the campaign.
“With the Government’s help or partnership, a new approach to combating HIV/AIDS with the Word of God will be taken to restore, reform and modernise PNG,” he said.