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.