Category Archives: Circumcision

Kenya: Deploring Death of Teenage Kenyan FGM Victim, Clitoraid Urges Kenya’s Health Ministry to Open a Clitoral Restoration Hospital and Eliminate Female Genital Mutilation

Leave a reply

From: News Release – African Press Organization (APO)
PRESS RELEASE

Deploring Death of Teenage Kenyan FGM Victim, Clitoraid Urges Kenya’s Health Ministry to Open a Clitoral Restoration Hospital and Eliminate Female Genital Mutilation

Clitoraid helps FGM victims obtain restorative surgery to reverse FGM effects

NAIROBI, Kenya, April 23, 2014/ — Following the tragic death of a 13-year old Kenyan girl who underwent female genital mutilation (FGM) last Monday, an organization that helps FGM victims obtain restorative surgery to reverse FGM effects, is urging Kenyan Health Secretary James Macharia to open Kenya’s first clitoral repair hospital.

Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/clitoraid-1.png

Photo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/photos/nadine-gary.jpg (Clitoraid Communications Director Nadine Gary)

“FGM reversal surgery, which restores clitoral functioning, is a powerful deterrent to the barbaric, cruel and dangerous practice of female genital mutilation,” said Clitoraid (http://www.clitoraid.org) Communications Director Nadine Gary. “Why do something so unpleasant and painful when the results can easily be undone?”

[See “before and after” pictures of clitoral reversal surgery, courtesy of Clitoraid’s volunteer head surgeon, Dr. Marci Bowers, at: http://marcibowers.com/our-services/fgm/ ]

Clitoraid, which is in the final stages of opening a state-of-the-art clitoral repair clinic in Burkina Faso, also organized a humanitarian mission in Bobo Dioulasso last month in which 38 FGM patients recovered clitoral function.

“Four American volunteer doctors traveled to Burkina Faso to do those surgeries, and thanks to them, those 38 patients will now enjoy their lives as complete women,” Gary said. “The same humanitarian mission must be organized in Kenya without delay. Countless FGM victims have written to us from Kenya, and they’re begging us to provide the service in Kenya. They need our help to regain their sense of dignity and their capacity for physical pleasure.”

Gary said her organization has written to James Macharia offering to come and train a Kenyan surgeon to do the clitoral repair procedure free of charge if he or she is willing to learn the technique.

Noting that a pan-African FGM conference organized by Burkina Faso’s First Lady, Chantal Compaore, will be held April 24-26 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Gary said Clitoraid is looking forward to the event.

“We’re looking forward to presenting our humanitarian project for Kenya at that gathering,” she said. “No time should be wasted, since we must act at once to save lives!”

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of Clitoraid.

Media contact:
Abibata Sanon
avfe@clitoraid.org
+226-78886092

About Clitoraid:

Clitoraid (http://www.clitoraid.org) is an international non-profit organization offering clitoral repair surgery to FGM victims.

SOURCE
Clitoraid

Kenya: Knives, Water, Culture

Leave a reply

To: jaluo@jaluo.com

From: Brunsteve

manor adier. How can an adult be circumcised and be given false sense of safety?

– What is the healing period?

– What is his .nutrition ?

– An adult will experience several erections while healing, so it may take even years !

-This adult circumcision is a govt ploy to increase infections and make Luos feel culturally inferior!!

– the answer is behaviour change !!!

– pala mar govt. odwok Nairobi !!

– why are they so ready with knives but not water for Kisumu ??

KENYA: MORE LUOS EMBRACE MALE CIRCUMCISION.

Leave a reply

By Agwanda Saye

Men are now enrolling in the second phase of a study of the PrePex™ device for performing adult male circumcision after a planned review of the data from the first phase raised no safety concerns.

A committee of independent experts conducted the review and recommended continuing the study.

The device has shown promise in clinical studies conducted in Rwanda and Zimbabwe. But this study, conducted by the Male Circumcision Consortium (MCC) in collaboration with the National AIDS/STI Control Programme (NASCOP) and the Nyanza Reproductive Health Society (NRHS), is the first to assess the safety and acceptability of PrePex-assisted adult male circumcision in routine clinical settings in Kenya.

“Our study will provide the information that the Ministry of Health (MOH) needs to decide whether to add PrePex to the national programme on voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC),” says Dr. Peter Cherutich, NASCOP deputy head and head of HIV prevention, who is a co-investigator for the study.

The first phase of the study was designed as a “safety run-in,” with an analysis and independent review of the data on the first 50 participants after 42 days of follow-up. Men ages 18 to 49 who sought VMMC services at the UNIM Research and Training Centre run by NRHS in Kisumu and consented to be in the study were circumcised by trained providers using the PrePex device.

Each man was scheduled to return after seven days to have the PrePex device removed and for additional follow-up visits after nine, 14, 28, 35 and 42 days.

Dr. Elijah Odoyo-June of UNIM reports that most of the men returned for all of their follow-up visits. Only two men missed any visits at all, and more than 97 percent of the scheduled visits were complete

Enrolment in the study has also proceeded smoothly. The first 50 participants were recruited within three weeks.

Now the study is enroling another 375 men at the UNIM Research and Training Centre and at dispensaries or health centres in Rachuonyo where VMMC is provided on specific days by outreach teams.

“Both service-delivery approaches — fixed and outreach — are important components of the Kenyan VMMC programme and will provide essential data on how the device might be integrated into ongoing services,” explains co-principal investigator Paul Feldblum of FHI 360.

In addition to getting circumcised, all participants receive the package of HIV prevention services recommended by the Kenyan MOH, including HIV testing and counseling, screening and treatment for any sexually transmitted infection, condoms and instructions in how to use them, and counseling on HIV-risk reduction and safer sex.

The men participating in the second phase of the study are asked to return after seven days to have the device removed and the circumcision wound assessed, and then for a final assessment 42 days after the procedure. They are encouraged to contact a study clinician or come to the clinic at any time should they have problems or questions related to care of the wound.

The main objective of the study is to assess the safety of PrePex procedure by measuring rates of complications and side effects and comparing them to the rates seen with the conventional surgery.

The researchers will also examine a range of other service delivery issues, such as client satisfaction with the procedure, providers’ perceptions of ease of use, return for follow-up visits, time to wound healing, the training required to achieve proficiency in the PrePex procedure and the cost of the procedure. Results are expected by September 2013.

The PrePex device consists of an elastic mechanism that fits closely around an inner ring, clamping the foreskin and cutting off its blood supply. The foreskin then dries up and is removed after a week.

Use of PrePex dramatically reduces the time needed to perform a male circumcision. The procedure requires no stitches, involves minimal bleeding and can usually be performed without injected anaesthesia. These advantages could make male circumcision more accessible and acceptable to adult and adolescent men. Disadvantages include the need to wear the device for a week and possibly a longer healing period.

Several PrePex studies have been conducted in Rwanda, including a randomised controlled trial that documented the safety of the procedure. A randomised trial has also been completed in Zimbabwe; the results have not yet been published.

The World Health Organization’s Technical Advisory Group on Innovations in Male Circumcision has endorsed the use of PrePex only in Rwanda based on the results of the studies there. The Kenya implementation study will show how well the device performs in a wider variety of settings.

The MCC consists of FHI 360 and the University of Illinois at Chicago, working closely with the NRHS. It is funded by a grant to FHI 360 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

AFRICA: PREPEX A MALE CIRCUMCISION DEVICE LAUNCHED.

1 Reply

By Agwanda Saye

The National AIDS/STI Control Programme and the Male Circumcision Consortium has launched a study of a novel medical device that could transform the way male circumcision is provided for HIV prevention.

The PrePex adult male circumcision device has shown promise in clinical studies conducted in Rwanda and Zimbabwe, but this study is the first to assess the safety and acceptability of PrePex assisted adult male circumcision in routine health care settings in Kenya.

“Our study will provide the information that the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation needs to decide whether to add PrePex to the national program me on Voluntary Male Circumcision “say Dr.Peter Cherutich, NASCOP Director for HIV Prevention and Co-investigator for the study.

The study will enroll 425 men ages 18 to 49 who seek VMMC services including 200 men at UNIM clinic in Kisumu and 225 men at dispensaries or health centres where VMMC is provided on specific days by mobile teams

Dr.Paul Feldblum Family Health International 360 project leader of the study notes that PrePex offers another potential advantage over clinical surgery, “the procedure requires no injected anesthesia for most me that means with training, community based health workers might be able to use the device to perform male circumcision in settings outside the clinic” he added

KENYA: LUO NYANZA REGION TO RECORD MORE CIRCUMCISED MEN,

1 Reply

By Agwanda Saye

Nyanza Provincial Director of Public Health and Sanitation has expressed optimism that the region will record major improvement when National Aids Control Council releases the new Aids indicator survey results.

Dr.Kioko says the intervention of voluntary Male Medical Circumcision which is still ongoing in Nyanza as a means of reducing HIV/AIDS seems successful.

“Figures of new HIV infections have reduced in most parts of Nyanza and we will not relent in encouraging men of between 15 to 49 years to go for the cut” he added.

Speaking to Journalists in Kisumu Kioko however said they are worried that men above 25 years are reluctant to go for the cut citing myths and misconceptions.

He urges the media to continue sensitizing the public on the importance of VMMC as a way of reducing HIV prevalence in Nyanza which stands at 14%higher than even the national prevalence.

ENDS

KENYA: MORE MEN GOT THE CUT IN NYANZA LAST YEAR.

1 Reply

By Dickens Wasonga

A total of 32,000 men got circumcised during the 2011 Rapid Results Initiative for voluntary medical male circumcision between November and December.

– – – –

These results, announced last week by the officials undertaking the program in Nyanza now brings the total number of clients reached by the national VMMC programme from October 2008 to December of 2011 to more than 380,000.

The 2011 RRI was the third annual campaign mounted by the government and its partners to expand access to VMMC services and promote their use.

In Nyanza, where the campaign was most extensive, 32,764 men received VMMC services , 80 percent of whom were aged between 15 to 49 years.

“This is an impressive number of clients to reach in such a short time,” said Dr. Jackson Kioko, provincial director of public health and sanitation.

He noted, however, that the goal of the 2011 RRI was to reach 52,000 men in Nyanza and 70,000 men overall.

Heavy rains in November and December made many roads impassable, cutting off key sites for service delivery, Dr. Kioko explained.

“The rains made it difficult—and sometimes impossible—for the teams to take VMMC services to the people and likely discouraged many clients from seeking services,” he said.

The VMMC programme will assess whether other factors contributed to the lower-than-expected service statistics.

One possibility, Dr. Kioko suggested, is that “after serving so many men in such a short time, it is likely that we need new strategies to reach those who have been slower to adopt male circumcision for HIV prevention.”

Among those are men older than 25, who will benefit most immediately from male circumcision for HIV prevention because they are most likely to be sexually active.

Some of the innovative strategies that the VMMC programme has used to reach these men include workplace interventions, weekend VMMC camps, and “moonlight services” offered at night.

Operational research is underway to identify additional strategies to improve access to services and promote uptake of VMMC.

“The results will guide us as we work to extend the reach and impact of VMMC services,” Dr. Kioko said.

The VMMC programme aims to provide VMMC as part of a comprehensive package of HIV prevention services to about 426,500 clients in Nyanza Province by 2013.

The annual RRI campaigns have been instrumental in the progress that has been made so far.

Through the first three campaigns, the VMMC programme reached more than 124,000 men.

Innovations such as the RRI have made Kenya the leader among the countries in sub-Saharan Africa that are working to scale up VMMC services for HIV prevention. In fact, Kenya is considered the only one of these 14 countries that is on track to reach the goal of circumcising 80 percent of uncircumcised men ages 15 to 49 years in five years.

Dr. Kioko urged government officials, implementing partners, health care providers, representatives of the media and community leaders to work together to raise awareness of VMMC.

“Let us continue to support the programme and to educate others about the tremendous benefits of VMMC services,” he said. “Together, we can save many lives.”

The campaign was supported by several U.S. government agencies — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the U.S. Department of Defense — as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Other partners that collaborated with the ministries of health and the National AIDS Control Council to implement the 2011 RRI in Nyanza included the Nyanza Reproductive Health Society, IMPACT Research and Development Organization, APHIAplus Western and Family AIDS Care and Education Services.

CAPTIONS

Caption 1(2011RRIPRESSBRIEFING014and016): Dr. Jackson Kioko, Nyanza provincial director of public health and sanitation addresses the media at a briefing to release the preliminary results of 2011 Rapid Results Initiative for voluntary medical male circumcision. More than 32,000 men were circumcised over 30 working days in November and December during the 2011 Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) for voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC).

Caption 2 (2011RRIPRESSBRIEFING028): Dr. Charles Okal, provincial AIDS and STI Co-ordinator, Nyanza (fore ground), flanked by George Ogutu Nyawalo, ministry of public health and sanitation and a representative from the National AIDS Control Council listen to proceedings at the briefing.

– – – –

RRI3pressrelease.docx

PRESS RELEASE

PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF THE 2011 RAPID RESULTS INITIATIVE FOR VOLUNTARY MEDICAL MALE CIRCUMCISION.

KISUMU, 18 January – More than 32,000 men were circumcised over 30 working days in November and December during the 2011 Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) for voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC).

These preliminary results, announced at an 18 January briefing in Kisumu, bring the total number of clients reached by the national VMMC programme from October 2008 to December of 2011 to more than 380,000.

The 2011 RRI was the third annual campaign mounted by the government and its partners to expand access to VMMC services and promote their use. In Nyanza, where the campaign was most extensive, 32,764 men received VMMC services in Nyanza, 80 percent of whom were ages 15 to 49.

“This is an impressive number of clients to reach in such a short time,” said Dr. Jackson Kioko, provincial director of public health and sanitation, in a speech at the briefing. He noted, however, that the goal of the 2011 RRI was to reach 52,000 men in Nyanza and 70,000 men overall.

Heavy rains in November and December 2011 made many roads impassable, cutting off key sites for service delivery, Dr. Kioko explained. “The rains made it difficult—and sometimes impossible—for the teams to take VMMC services to the people and likely discouraged many clients from seeking services,” he said.

The VMMC programme will assess whether other factors contributed to the lower-than-expected service statistics. One possibility, Dr. Kioko suggested, is that “after serving so many men in such a short time, it is likely that we need new strategies to reach those who have been slower to adopt male circumcision for HIV prevention.”

Among those are men older than 25, who will benefit most immediately from male circumcision for HIV prevention because they are most likely to be sexually active. Some of the innovative strategies that the VMMC programme has used to reach these men include workplace interventions, weekend VMMC camps, and “moonlight services” offered at night.

Operational research is underway to identify additional strategies to improve access to services and promote uptake of VMMC. “The results will guide us as we work to extend the reach and impact of VMMC services,” Dr. Kioko said.

The VMMC programme aims to provide VMMC as part of a comprehensive package of HIV prevention services to about 426,500 clients in Nyanza Province by 2013.

The annual RRI campaigns have been instrumental in the progress that has been made so far. Through the first three campaigns, the VMMC programme reached more than 124,000 men.

Innovations such as the RRI have made Kenya the leader among the countries in sub-Saharan Africa that are working to scale up VMMC services for HIV prevention. In fact, Kenya is considered the only one of these 14 countries that is on track to reach the goal of circumcising 80 percent of uncircumcised men ages 15 to 49 years in five years.

Dr. Kioko urged government officials, implementing partners, health care providers, representatives of the media and community leaders to work together to raise awareness of VMMC.

“Let us continue to support the programme and to educate others about the tremendous benefits of VMMC services,” he said. “Together, we can save many lives.”

Dr. Kioko also thanked the funders and implementers of the 2011 RRI. The campaign was supported by several U.S. government agencies — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the U.S. Department of Defense — as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The partners that collaborated with the ministries of health and the National AIDS Control Council to implement the 2011 RRI in Nyanza are the Nyanza Reproductive Health Society, IMPACT Research and Development Organization, APHIAplus Western and Family AIDS Care and Education Services.

KENYA: VOLUNTARY MEDICAL MALE CIRCUMCISION LAUNCHES 2011 RAPID RESULTS INITIATIVE

1 Reply

By Dickens Ochieng’

Ministry of public health is intensifying efforts to meet the anticipated high demand for voluntary medical male circumcision services within Nyanza region.

By increasing access to the services and promoting their use, the government’s Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision program aims to reach about 70,000 men and boys with VMMC and related HIV prevention services by end of this year.

“The impementers of the program and its partners will work together using the available resources to make VMMC widely accessible in 17 districts in Nyanza,”

Nyanza Provincial Commissioner Francis Mutie, said this in a speech read on his behalf by the Kisumu County regional commissioner Mr. Arthur Osiya, who launched the 2011 Rapid Results Initiative.

Also at the launch which took place in Kisumu’s Kondele area included a team of public health officials led by Dr. Charles Okal, the provincial Aids and STD coordinator, who represented the provincial director of public health and sanitation.

The RRI will also be conducted in parts of Nairobi, Rift Valley and Western provinces.

But the campaign will be most extensive in Nyanza, where the government and its partners are mobilizing all health care providers trained in VMMC services so that they can reach 52,000 new clients.

This is the third Rapid Results Initiative campaign mounted by the government to expand access to VMMC services.

During the first RRI in 2009, more than 37,000 men and boys in Nyanza Province were circumcised over 30 working days.

Last year’s campaign reached more than 50,000 men and boys in Nyanza and almost 5,000 in Nairobi Province.

This year’s RRI builds on the lessons learned from last year’s initiative, including the progress made in reaching clients 15 years and older.

During the past year, the VMMC programs has made special efforts to reach men in this age group, and particularly those older than 25 who can benefit immediately from male circumcision because they tend to be sexually active and are therefore most at risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV.

More than 84 percent of clients during the 2010 RRI were 15 years and older—up from about 61 percent in 2009.

Mr. Mutie urged men to take advantage of the free VMMC services offered at convenient locations during the RRI.

The PC also noted the important role that women play in supporting men to become circumcised and practice safe sex after the procedure.

“I encourage men to discuss the procedure with their partners and to make their decisions about VMMC together,” he said.

Women benefit from male circumcision because circumcised male partners are less likely to acquire and transmit HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

In fact, if the VMMC programme in Nyanza can achieve its goal of reaching 80 percent of uncircumcised men ages 15 to 49 by 2013; an estimated 900,000 HIV infections could be averted in men, women and children over 20 years.

Mr. Mutie reported that Nyanza is about halfway toward achieving its goal.

The first two RRIs were instrumental in the progress made so far, accounting for about 39 percent of all VMMC clients served since 2008.

The partners collaborating with the ministries of health to implement the 2011 RRI in Nyanza are the National Aids Control Council ( NACC), Nyanza Reproductive Health Society (NRHS), IMPACT Research and Development Organization, APHIAplus Western, Family AIDS Care and Education Services and the Male Circumcision Consortium ( which consists of Family Health International (FHI 360), EngenderHealth, and the University of Illinois at Chicago, working with the Nyanza Reproductive Health Society).

Also in attendance was Kisumu East District Commissioner, Mr. Mabeya Mogaka and the National Aids Control Council Nyanza field officer Mr. Hannington Onyango.

ENDS.

KENYA: MORE LUO MEN ARE EMBRACING THE “CUT”

Leave a reply

By Agwanda Jamach

Nyanza Provincial Director of Public Health and Sanitation Dr. Jackson Kioko is saying that the pace that has already been set in the province on Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision is promising with 426,500 targeted by 2013.

Dr. Kioko says that launching of Rapid Result Initiative on male circumcision in the last two years has plummeted the number of men seeking the services.

He says that so far a total of 130,000 men are still not circumcised in the province according to their statistics and is optimistic that by the year 2013 they will receive the services.

Speaking during the release of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision RRI in Kisumu, Dr. Kioko says that RRI was designed to accelerate access to voluntary medical male circumcision services in the province.

He says that a total of 50,454 men were circumcised during the RRI that started last year in November to December surpassing their target of 41,000 men.

Nyanza Provincial Commissioner Francis Mutie who was the chief guest at the function cautioned youths against indulging in drug abuse.

Mutie says that drug abuse is one of the factors that has led to high prevalence HIV rate among the youth in the country.

He also urged the circumscribed men to continue taking precautions as circumcision does not offer complete protection against HIV infection.

ENDS

Uganda: 120 Ugandan girls traumatized after forced circumcision in Sabiny

7 Replies

Reports Leo Odera Omolo

SOME cried. Some were confused. Others still traumatised, while many were left speechless.They looked on in disbelief as a local female surgeon tried in vain thrice, probably using a very blunt knife, to cut off a girl’s clitoris.

Sabiny girls during the Wednesday night circumcision ritual in Bukwo district.

She then asked for another, similarly blunt knife and to make it work, applied extra force, going back and forth, the way a saw cuts into timber. The girl struggled not to show fear and to contain her trembling, which is culturally unacceptable and would have attracted scorn and ridicule from the attentive crowd.

As blood gushed from her private parts, the crowd urged the girls: “Be strong! You are almost done! Remain calm!”,the semi official newspaper, the NEWVISION has reported this morning.

People stood on hills; others climbed trees and some pitched camp on roof tops of huts to catch a glimpse of the ritual.

A white lady in the crowd was so shaken, she said later that she wished she could have saved the girl from the severe pain and embarrassment.

Once cut, the girl was pushed aside, like a slaughtered chicken, her legs put together as if to stifle the pain and another descended upon.

Yet, when Saturday Vision interviewed her, she said she was happy and excited. But her facial muscles reflected the pain buried inside her, away from society. “I am happy I have become a woman by being circumcised. I will be able to do what other cut women do. I will now be able to climb into the granary or milk cows, which I was not allowed to do till now,” Alice Chemutai said.

She had a blanket wrapped around her waist.

Eight girls cut with two knives

Then seven other girls – one by one, wrapped in dirty blankets and strewn all over a compound hosting two huts, were circumcised. The circumciser would first throw fine millet flour into their private parts to reduce friction and wetness.

She used the same knife to cut each of them. The knife was not sterilized, exposing all of them to the risk of the deadly HIV.

The cuts lasted close to 50 seconds. As the mutilated girls lay helpless, an old woman, threw millet flour over them to appease the spirits and ordered them to kneel so that the blood could pour out.

Most of the girls were barely in their early twenties but someone in the crowd said they were all married. “Girls here marry by their 15th birthdays,” he said.

A few minutes later, the girls were told to march into a hut where they would spend the next three weeks healing from the mutilation. But they did not march; they staggered.

The eight are part of over 120 girls who have been mutilated in Sebei region since the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) season kicked off in Sebei in eastern Uganda.

According to information compiled by local authorities, the girls hail from the districts of Bukwo and Kween. Kapchorwa district has not registered any case.

According to Alfred Ayebwa, the LC1 chairman for Kapkorosia village, over 50 girls were mutilated in Kabei and Kortuk sub-counties, 20 in Chesower sub-county, and 34 in Chekwasta sub-county. Another 16 were mutilated in Suam sub-county.

Bukwo vice-chairman John Chelangat said the mutilation was done between midnight and two in the morning, behind closed doors.

“This is due to fear of the new law that calls for the ban on FGM and gives harsh penalties to anybody participating in FGM or withholds any information about it,” he said

No sensitisation about the new law

The Government passed a law prohibiting FGM in December 2009 but nobody in the FGM areas seems to care.

According to Chelangat, no sensitisation has been done to educate the people about the new law because there are no funds to do it.

The United Nations allocated about $300,000 (about sh600m) for FGM activities but, to-date, people on the ground report no sensitisation activities.

The national gender officer for the UN Fund for Population Activities, Brenda Malinga, said some of the money has been used at the national level to get the law working and the rest was supposed to be disbursed to the districts in November for sensitisation about the law.

She says last year, focus was mainly on enactment and enforcement of legislation against FGM.

“We have been supporting training on community dialogue for FGM abandonment in Amudat, Bukwo and Kapchorwa. We also simplified the new law for them.”

But when Saturday Vision visited FGM districts, no impact was seen. And the FGM season started in July 2010.

Women who usually do the cutting are complaining that FGM activists promised them compensation for income lost but up to now, nothing has been done.

“We shall continue cutting girls because this is where we get our income. They have also not sensitized us and we do not know what is in the law,” said Sunday Kokop, the surgeon in Suam-sub-county. According to the law, aggravated FGM gets life imprisonment.

This is when death occurs or where the victim is disabled or is infected with HIV. It is also aggravated FGM where the offender is a parent, guardian or person with control over the victim, or where the act is done by a health worker.

Others who engage in FGM shall be imprisoned for a period not exceeding 10 years.

The problem

The lack of sensitisation about the law can be blamed on factors like lack of a radio especially in Bukwo district to carry the message, low levels of education and high levels of poverty.

Alex Cherop, 34, of Chesimat village in Kortek sub-county, said nobody has ever told them to abandon FGM. They hear about a campaign in Kapchorwa but do not know how it fits in their culture and customs.

According to the Sabiny, a girl is circumcised to initiate her into adulthood. The clitoris is cut out to interfere with a woman’s arousal process.

Saturday Vision established that over 220 girls were mutilated in Amudat district between July and September this year. According to the LC5 chief of Amudat, Pauline Isura, the girls were mutilated in the remote sub-counties of Loro and Karitek, on the Uganda-Kenya border, which is difficult to reach.

“We do not have logistics to facilitate us to reach there. There were also some girls who crossed to their kin in Pokot north in Kenya to get mutilated,” Isura adds.

Why is there no action taken against perpetrators?

Local leaders are reluctant to swing into action because, according to Chelangat, they may lose votes.

The police are also unable to arrest the culprits because, according to the Bukwo district Police chief, James Wamwenyerere, they do not have transport.

“We lack transport and most of the places are vast and hilly for us to reach.”

The Police chief said he had the names and location of the girls who were to be mutilated on December 2, but they did nothing due to lack of transport.

The DPC, however, says they have managed to arrest about four girls who were mutilated in Chesower sub-county and five of their parents. They are in custody.

But recently, when they arrested three girls in Binyinya, Kween district over FGM, court acquitted them because the girls refused to name the people who mutilated them. They told the magistrate that they mutilated themselves.

When the local surgeon, who had been arrested by police was paraded in court for identification, the girls said they did not know her. The case was dismissed.

However, Beatrice Chelangat, the executive director of the Reproductive Educative and Community Health Project, says investigations are going on.

Ends

Kenya: Rapid Results Initiative to Accelerate Access to Voluntary Male Circumcision

Leave a reply

Story By Dickens Wasonga.

KENYA’S ministry of public health in collaboration with the Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision program has launched a Rapid Results Initiative — an intensive effort to meet the anticipated high demand for voluntary medical male circumcision services in Nyanza Province during upcoming the school holidays.

The initiative which is targeting to boost access to services was launched today at the Kisumu’s Jomo Kenyatta Sports Ground.

By increasing access to the services and promoting their use, the government’s program hopes to reach about 41,000 men and boys and help provide related HIV prevention services by the close of this year.

“The government and its partners will put together all the available resources to make VMMC widely accessible in 12 districts in Nyanza,” said Nyanza Provincial Commissioner Francis Mutie, who launched the 2010 RRI.

His speech was read by Kisumu East district commissioner, Mabeya Mogaka. He was assisted by Dr. Jackson Kioko, the provincial director of public health and sanitation.

During the first RRI in November-December 2009, more than 37,000 men and boys were circumcised in a record 30 days in an area which traditionally did not circumcise their males.

This year’s RRI builds on the lessons learned from last year’s initiative with even greater emphasis on bringing services closer to communities and communicating the benefits of VMMC for HIV prevention.

Mr. Mutie asked the citizens of Nyanza to support the 2010 RRI.

“I especially urge men aged between 15 to 49 years to heed this call,” he said, explaining that men in this age group can benefit most from male circumcision because they tend to be sexually active and therefore most at risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV.

About 47 percent of clients during the 2009 RRI were younger than 15. Circumcision will help protect these boys from HIV in the future, but it will not have an immediate effect on Kenya ’s HIV epidemic because most of them are not yet sexually active.

That is why the 2010 includes special efforts to encourage men and teens who are older than 15 to seek VMMC services. Satisfied clients from this age group will inform their peers about the benefits of medical male circumcision, and the programme will redouble its efforts to make VMMC available at convenient times and locations.

These efforts will help the government reach its ambitious objective of providing comprehensive HIV prevention services that include male circumcision to 426,500 men and boys in Nyanza by 2013.

Doing so will help the VMMC program achieve its ultimate goal of circumcising 1.1 million men nationwide by 2014, which would prevent an estimated 900,000 HIV infections in men and women.

The partners collaborating with the ministries of health to implement the 2010 RRI are the Nyanza Reproductive Health Society (NRHS), IMPACT Research and Development Organization, Family AIDS Care and Education Services, the Catholic Medical Mission Board, the AIDS Population and Health Integrated Assistance (APHIA) II Nyanza Project, the Male Circumcision Consortium (which consists of FHI, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Engender Health working with NRHS), PSI, the C-Change Project of the Academy for Educational Development, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Ends-

Kenya: The New Constitutional is an ORDER that 2012 is Election Time

1 Reply

from Judy Miriga

Folks,

The New Constitution is an ORDER and not an OPTION.

It does not have to go according to the wishes of Kenya MPs whether they have to agree ananimously or not. It is an Official Order that, wapende wasipende, they have to seek fresh mandate from public. The New Constitution is People ORDER that these good-for-nothing MPs MUST go home. Their stay in Office is making things worse than they should. They cannot even stop invasion of Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab, Somali Pirating in the Indian Ocean, Invasion of Migingo, Lake Victoria, River Nile, corruption of backdoor deals with China and Libya, irrelevancy thievery pact of East African Community behind the scene negotiations, the Intelligence Property corruption and Theft by the African Union, thieving through World Bank, IMF, IFAD, COMESA etc., lack of interest and inability to tore line within the stated requirment of the Reform Agenda and as guided by the New Constitution are signs these corrupt leaders will delay IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION……..THEREBY, expounding instances of the Insecurity of Kenyan Public including those of the world etc., etc., are reasons these politicians are spent forces and MUST GO HOME by 2012.

We have lost so much because of these non-thinking selfish leaders. These leaders have caused us much pain and sufferings, and they have fixed mind-set that of looting, killing and throwing peoples dignity, honor and value. They are throwing the Republic of Kenya to the jaws of colonialism by the Chinese and Libya…..they signed Memorundum of Understanding to enslave us to China and Libya……They MUST be forced out using the only weapon we have that of the CONSTITUTIONAL NEW ORDER for REFORM AGENDA. We want change and want it right now.

Above all OCAMPO and ICC Hague Mission MUST BE ACTIVE AND FAST ACTING.

We want to engage REFORMIST, those with eyes for building the future for purposes of Unity and progress for common good of all Kenyans, not those with selfish minds, who care for personal, their families and tribal economic empowerment while invading resouce values of other communities without regards to humanity.

If beyond reasons the NEW CONSTITUTION IMPLEMENTATION IS NOT COMPLETED BY six months time, we MUST DEMAND TO EVICT THE COALITION GOVERNMENT

and REPLACE IT WITH AN INTERIM GOVERNMENT to OVERSEE THE COMPLETION

OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION IMPLEMENTATION.

This cannot wait and so the Kenyan MPs MUST show signs of complementing their work

according to earned salaries they get from taxpayers.

Thanks,

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Mutula Kilonzo has said the next General Election cannot be held in August 2012 as per the new Constitution November 9, 2010. FILE

By ALPHosted Tuesday, November 9 2010 at 16:48 ONCE SHIUNDU, ashiundu@ke.nationmedia.com
PKenya MPs have unanimously agreed that the next General Election cannot be held in August 2012 as stipulated in the new Constitution.

But, even as they ruled out the August poll date, they were not clear on when the next polls will be held, with some of them saying December 2012 while the others insisted it will have to be “sometime in March 2013″.

The MPs cited Clause 10 of the Sixth Schedule of the new Constitution to back their position, saying the term for the current Parliament had been “saved”.

The clause reads: “The National Assembly existing immediately before the effective date shall continue as the National Assembly for the purposes of this Constitution for its unexpired term.”

“That unexpired term cannot have any other meaning,” Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo told the Nation at the sidelines of a meeting at the Kenya Institute of Administration Tuesday.

The minister said that as long as the coalition government continued to operate, then Parliament’s mandate will hold until the next elections in December, and the August poll date will only apply to the next Parliament.

“We can have the elections in December,” said Mr Kilonzo. He said the old Constitution still applied and that’s why they have to be in office until December 2012.

Mr Abdikadir Mohammed, the chairman of Parliament’s Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee, said it “wouldn’t make sense” to have the elections in August 2012, because that will “shorten” the implementation period.

Mr Mohammed told the Nation that if the August 2012 poll-date was to apply, then Parliament will have to dissolve itself in May to give room –the mandatory 60 days—within which the electoral commission has to prepare and conduct elections.

However, like the Justice minister, Mr Mohammed too cited the “unexpired term” tag in the transition and consequential clauses of the Constitution to say that the election date has to be in December 2012.

“The date for the next elections,” Mr Mohammed said, “has to be exactly five years from the date of the last election, and that is December 2012

He said the heavy schedule in setting up institutions, laws and infrastructure for the new dispensation, needed time, and that’s why the 10th Parliament – the current one — will not dissolve itself in May 2012.

“We have so much on our plate, especially the work to do with counties and devolution. It is a lot and we need time,” said Mr Mohammed.
While the powers of the current Parliament are extended until the next elections, the President’s powers to dissolve Parliament –the very powers that he held in the old Constitution—are not in the new Constitution.

Mr Ababu Namwamba, the chairman of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, also ruled out the August poll date, but then explained the “unexpired term” to mean that the MPs have to be in Parliament until January 15, 2013 –that’s the day they were sworn in.
Mr Namwamba’s interpretation means that the next elections will come up on or before March 2013, taking into account the 60-day time limit for the electoral body to organize the poll.

However, the Justice Minister was categorical: “Those saying August 2012 and those saying March 2013 are all wrong. The polls have to come in December. I showed them this Clause (10 of the Sixth Schedule) and I think they agreed with me that December is the date. We can’t have them (the polls) in 2013. That will be more than five years.”

The two-day retreat ended with MPs agreed that their term will last until December 2012. They also agreed that all public officers will have to be vetted, regardless of whether they were elected by professional bodies or nominated by the President and the Prime Minister.

“We’ll vet everyone, whether they are elected by a few hundred professionals or nominated by the President. Because in any case, the President draws his mandate from the votes of close to four million Kenyans. So really, there shouldn’t be a difference in the way we treat the nominees,” Mr Namwamba told the Nation.

The House team pledged to stick to the Constitutional deadlines and put in place laws to quickly roll out the new Constitution.
Mr Mohammed, the chair of the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee, said that MPs will agree based on the need –whether to take their December recess and come back early (before March) from the recess.

The retreat ended with MPs promising to uphold the spirit of the Constitution –that of upholding transparency in all Public appointments.

WHAT THE CONSTITUTION SAYS ON:

ELECTION DATE
CLAUSE 3 (2) of the Sixth Schedule
Sections 30 to 40, 43 to 46 and 48 to 58 of the former Constitution, the provisions of the former Constitution concerning the executive, and the National Accord and Reconciliation Act, shall continue to operate until the first general elections held under this Constitution, but the provisions of this Constitution concerning the
system of elections, eligibility for election and the electoral process shall apply to that election.

CLAUSE 9(2) of the Sixth Schedule
(1) The first elections for the President, the National Assembly, the Senate, county assemblies and county governors under this Constitution shall be held at the same time, within sixty days after the dissolution of the National Assembly at the end of its term.
(2) Despite subsection (1), if the coalition established under the National Accord is dissolved and general elections are held before 2012, elections for the first county assemblies and governors shall be held during 2012.

TERM OF PARLIAMENT

101. (1) A general election of members of Parliament shall be held on the second Tuesday in August in every fifth year.
Clause 10 of the Sixth Schedule
10. The National Assembly existing immediately before the effective date shall continue as the National Assembly for the purposes of this Constitution for its unexpired term.

KENYA: EFFORTS INTENSIFIED FOR MORE MEN TO BE CIRCUMCISED WITHIN NYANZA PROVINCE.

Leave a reply

By Agwanda Jowi

INTENSIFIED efforts to encourage more men in Nyanza Province to take advantage of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Services (VMMC) reached 19,342 men and boys in the month of August—more than four times the monthly average of 4,125,says a report in Male Circumcision Consortium news and e-newsletter written by Family Health International (FHI) about male circumcision for HIV prevention.

“The government and its partners were able to more than quadruple the number of (VMMC) clients for the month by employing strategies and lessons learned from the Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) of November-December 2009, when more than 37,000 men and boys were circumcised over 30 days” says the report..

The report further says that like the 2009 RRI, the effort to accelerate uptake of VMMC services was conducted during the school holidays, when programme implementers have noticed an increase in the number of clients seeking male circumcision.

It aslo says that like last year’s RRI, the effort addressed supply and demand, with measures to make VMMC services more accessible and others to promote men’s use of the services.

The partners who collaborated with the Ministries of Health (MOH) during the August initiative were the Nyanza Reproductive Health Society, IMPACT Research and Development Organisation, Family AIDS Care and Education Services, the Catholic Medical Mission Board, and the AIDS Population and Health (APHIA) II Nyanza Project.

Thea above and other partners are working with the MOH to prepare for an even more extensive effort to meet the demand for VMMC, through the 2010 Rapid Results Initiative. The campaign will be held from November 22 to December 17.

ENDS

MALE CIRCUMCISION IN KENYA BY WHO .

2 Replies

By Agwanda Jakorandoh

Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Program Services (VMMCP) in Kenya has so far seen 88,217 men circumcised within Nyanza province with all clients reporting being satisfied with the services they received and complications from the surgery were low at a rate of 3.9 % with most of the complications being mild ones such as bleeding and selling.

According to a progress on VMMCP for the year 2008-09 by the National AIDS/STI Control Program (NASCOP) head Dr.Nicholas Muraguri, the number of circumcisions in Nyanza by December 2009 exceeded the program me’s goal for the first year.

“However, the high percentage of clients who were younger than fifteen particularly during the Rapid Results Initiative suggests that the program me may not yet be on track to reach 420,000 men and boys ages 15 to 49 in Nyanza by 2013” says Dr. Muraguri.

He adds that M & E data have revealed additional areas for improvement such as increasing the follow-up rates and acceptance of HIV testing and counseling.

“The Government of Kenya continues to consider evidence from M & E system and from local and international research to make decisions on how best to improve the VMMC program me and safely achieve an impact on public health within the shortest time possible” he further said.

Dr.Kim Eva Dickson a senior advisor on HIV/AIDS at World Health Organisation says that Kenya by far is in the lead in terms of how they’ve got their policy done and in the number of circumcisions they’ve done.

“What has impressed me about Kenya is the speed with which they’ve been able to move from policy to strategy and then to service delivery” Dr Dickson added.

ENDS

KENYA TARGETS TO CIRCUMCISE 1 MILLION MEN IN FOUR YEARS TIME

5 Replies

KENYA TARGETS TO CIRCUMCISE 1 MILLION MEN IN FOUR YEARS TIME

By Dickens Wasonga in Kisumu

Kenya’s ministry of health is targetting to circumcise an estimated one million men in the next four years during the ongoing male circumcision for HIV prevention program.

The program, which aims to reduce the number of new HIV infections in the country by improving and expanding the provision of safe and voluntary male circumcision services, was lauched 3 years ago, and has since seen 90,000 men go for the cut in Nyanza province, where the project began.

In a speech read on his behalf by the member of parliament for Kisumu town west, Hon Olago Aluoch, during the third stakeholder’s meeting on voluntary medical male circumcision, at Kisumu’s Tom Mboya labour college, the medical services minister, prof Anyan’g Nyon’go said public health experts have advised on the need to carry out safe, medical circumcision as a new intervention, to prevent HIV alongside the other practised methods, which includes abstinence, being faithful, and correct and consistent condom use.

The minister observed that the strategy was embraced after three clinical trials conducted among uncircumcised men showed that being circumcised drastically reduced the men’s chances of becoming infected with HIV.

The studies conducted in Kisumu, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa showed that male circumcision lowered the risk of HIV infection by about 60 percent.

Out of the total number of men expected to undergo the cut in the country, Nyanza will account for 430,000 men who fall between the ages of 15 to 49 years.

The government chose to first roll out the program in the province where culturally men are not circumcised. The region is also leading on HIV prevalence, which stand at 16 percent, higher than even the national average, according to statistics from the ministry.

The circumcision services are provided free in government health facilities and in various identified outreach centers.

Family Health International(FHI), the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Engender Health are partners of the consortium which carry out the project in close collaboration with the ministry of public health and medical services, and the Nyanza Reproductive Health Society, in support of a national effort led by the government of Kenya.

Its funded by a grant to FHI from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from 2008 to 2013.

Even though the program has recieved huge support from the local elites, particularly amongst the area’s political class, who include the prime minister Raila Odinga, the community’s elders have given it a lukewarm welcome.

Led by its council chairman, ker Riaga Ogalo, the elders still appear to want to cling to the community’s old ways and constantly encourage the locals to stick to cultural preservation so as not to lose their identity.

However, going by the swelling numbers of males rushing to undergo the cut, especially by the young men from the area, it’s clear many people would do anything to beat the scourge.

Speaking at the same function, the Kisumu east district commissioner, Mr Mabeya Mogaka warned those who deliberately infect others with the virus in the town to watch ou,t because the long arm of the law will soon catch up with them.

ENDS.