No Sex for 42 Days after Circumcision
- Category: Articles
- Date 26-07-2009
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Sexually active men who undergo medical circumcision have been advised to abstain from sex for at least 42 days.
“This is the medically-recommended period. It is expected that you will be healed properly. Unfortunately, most people want to resume sex early with the excuse of establishing if they are still “functioning”. This has brought them complications,” said Dr. Alex Opio, the assistant commissioner for national disease control.
He added: “Medical male circumcision does not reduce the libido as some people think.”
Opio was yesterday launching a communications strategy for circumcision.
Venansio Ahabwe, the HIV/AIDS programme officer at the Health Communication Partnership, said the strategy was aimed at addressing the information gaps regarding male circumcision as an intervention against HIV and AIDS.
Research carried out between 2005 and 2007 in Uganda, Kenya and South Africa indicated that circumcision reduced the chances of contracting HIV in men by 60%.
It also reduces on the chances of contracting urinary tract infections, inflammation of the penis and penile cancer. Circumcision among men also reduces the risk of cervical cancer among their wives.
As a result, the World Health Organisation and the UN Programme on HIV/AIDS in 2007 recognised male circumcision as an additional strategy to preventing HIV. About 24.8% of Ugandan men aged 15-49 are circumcised.
Opio said the health ministry was embarking on formulating a national policy on medical male circumcision.
“We expect that by the end of this year, the taskforce will have come up with a draft national policy on medical male circumcision. We need to prepare the health facilities before coming up with the policy,” he said.
Opio added that circumcision was not a stand-alone intervention, but a supplement to the strategy of abstaining, being faithful and using condoms.
By Anthony Bugembe
Source: New Vision