Circumcision in heterosexual males could reduce HIV by up to 60%, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The government of Rwanda is to start a non-surgical circumcision drive ‘PrePex’ intended to lower risks of HIV transmission and infections by 50%, according to the study done in the country showing the advantages of using the devise.
Physicians show that the PrePex devise enables circumcision to be performed without surgery or any blood loss, by nurses, who don’t need extensive training to use the apparatus.
The Rwandan Government has completed its third trial of PrePex with nearly 600 volunteers and has concluded recommending that the device is a safe and efficient way of performing circumcisions.
The results were presented at the 16th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in Africa (ICASA).
Agnes Binagwaho, the Minister of Health recommended on the initiative saying, “We are unwilling to allow our health system resource challenges to dissuade us from our mission: to create a healthier, HIV-free Rwanda. We are committed to finding innovative, safe and effective solutions to make this happen.”
“This study shows that with the non-surgical PrePex device we can safely task-shift circumcision from surgeons and family physicians to nurses, which if nationally scaled up, would make a significant contribution to our public health system.” The Minister added.
Recommending on study made in Rwanda; Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS said, “We commend the government of Rwanda for progressing the science of HIV prevention for the benefit of the region.”
“Innovation is the key to achieving our target of 20 million voluntary adult male circumcisions by 2015 and saving millions of lives. Devices such as PrePex have the potential to facilitate safe and rapid scale up of male circumcision for HIV prevention, an urgent need in Sub Saharan Africa,” he added.
An evaluation from the World Health Organization said the study of the PrePex device provides further clinical evidence that circumcision performed by nurses when using the PrePex device is fast, safe and effective, enabling a bloodless procedure that requires no injected anesthesia, no sutures and no sterile settings.
The device basically works by stopping the flow of blood to the foreskin. It remains in situ for a week, after which time it is removed along with the foreskin that has died due to lack of circulation.
The average time for installation of the device is less than three minutes, with the advantage that it doesn’t involve surgery or cause blood loss, and thus can be performed by nurses.
The device and procedure, which can be performed in a regular doctor’s consulting room has an AE rate of 0.34% (2 out of 590), and the total study adverse event (AE) rate when performed by nurses was 0.83%.
All resolved with minimal intervention, and the AE rate was lower than previously reported AE rates for surgical male circumcision when performed by surgeons (4.8%).
The study was approved by the Rwanda National Ethics Committee and was conducted at Kanombe military Hospital, Kigali Rwanda, between July 2011 and October 2011.
Leave a Reply