Mmegi (Botswana)
August 29, 2013
Japan withdraw circumcision funds
by Onalenna Kelebeile
SELEBI-PHIKWE: A Japanese company JHPEGO, has withdrawn funding for
Safe Male Circumcision (SMC) because the country failed to meet the
target of 40 males per day. The programme known as SMC/MOVE was a
national strategy that started in October 2012 and was supposed to go on
for five years. The withdrawal of funding means that the programme
stops less than a year after it started. Delivering the Urban
Development Committee report recently Selebi-Phikwe District Officer
Orishiwa Sitekia said the SMC/MOVE programme stopped due to lack of
funds and the team halted work on August 15.
"Funds for this national strategy were withdrawn due to the programme
failing to meet the set target of circumcising 40 males a day. "Only 10
males on average were circumcised in a day," she said.
Sitekia said SMC would continue to be done in local health facilities
by the district health management teams.She said the SMC/MOVE under the
Japanese company had a higher rollout than in the local health
facilities Meanwhile, the urban development report shows that there was
an insufficient supply of food in the local primary schools during the
first quarter of 2013/14 financial year.
...
Ilajewe FMAugust 7, 2013
US STOPS FUNDING CIRCUMCISION PROGRAMME.
The United States government through the President’s Emergency
Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has stopped funding Botswana’s Safe Male
Circumcision (SMC) programme. Addressing residents of Khuduyamajako in
Letlhakeng East recently, the Assistant Minister of Health, the
Honourable Gaotlhaetse Matlhabaphiri, said
this was due to the unwillingness of men to be circumcised.
He pointed out that government planned to have circumcised thousands of
men by the end of this year and was concerned about the low turnout
they had experienced since the inception of the programme.
“At least during the school vacation, almost 4 000 school going
boys were circumcised,” he noted. On other issues, the honourable
Matlhabaphiri expressed concern about the growing number of defaulters
enrolled on the ARV programme. He was also worried that such patients
did not follow doctor’s instructions on how to take their medication.
...