Gov’t to scale up circumcision drive

More Rwandan hospitals will soon conduct circumcision using Prepex device, a bloodless method which was approved by the World Health Organisation following successful clinical trials in Rwanda.Besides Rwanda Military Hospital, which hosted the clinical trials for Prepex device, the procedure will also be conducted at Kibagabaga, Rwamagana and Masaka hospitals, according to health officials.WHO nodded to the Prepex device in March after carrying out clinical trials on adult Rwandans since 2009, with more than 4000 procedures.The device, the first known tool to facilitate male circumcision without injectable anaesthesia, stitches or sterile settings, works through a special elastic mechanism that fits closely around an inner ring, trapping the penis foreskin, which dries up and is removed after a week. “4200 Prepex procedures have so far been performed in Rwanda, of which only 888 were under clinical trials while the others were part of various circumcision campaigns. “We are now working to initiate a scale-up programme that includes over 10,000 Prepex procedures at three district hospitals,” said Dr Vincent Mutabazi, Director, Research Grants Unit and Lead Investigator at the Rwanda Biomedical Centre.Mutabazi added that plans were underway to open other operating centres in different parts of the country to help roll out the programme further.He said following WHO’s approval of the Prepex, the government has conducted two campaigns, resulting in 1,000 procedures in Gicumbi District, and 1,500 others during the just-concluded Army Week campaign in Rusizi District.The government has set sights on having at least two million Rwandan males circumcised in two years.

National

Gov’t to scale up circumcision drive