ZIMBABWE: "Most" cut men think they're immune: condoms poorly tested

The Africa Report
July 11, 2012

Zimbabwe: Concern over high HIV rates among circumcised males

By Janet Shoko
Health officials in Zimbabwe are worried that the massive drive to have 1, 2 million men circumcised by 2015 might backfire following indications that HIV prevalence is high among men that have undergone the procedure.

...

National Aids Council (NAC) public health officer Blessing Mutede said authorities were concerned about the high rate of infection among the circumcised.

Health officials say most men, after circumcision, harbour the false impression that they have been equipped with an invisible condom.
[As we predicted. But how do they know what most men think?]

"It is a worrying development that at a time when we are promoting male circumcision as a preventive measure to combat HIV, we are recording a high prevalence rate amongst the group that has been circumcised largely due to uninformed risky compensatory behaviours," Mutede said.

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On Wednesday, it was reported that condom users in Zimbabwe were in danger after it emerged that equipment used to test the quality of condoms was out-dated and no longer had capacity to produce accurate results.

Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe director, Gugu Mahlangu said the "equipment was 15 years old".
"We are supposed to test 6-8 sample batches of condoms with the air inflators but at the end we only test three batches because of the backward technology" she said.
[Or maybe more vigorous thrusting after circumcision bursts faulty condoms more? This guess is as good as theirs.]
 
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