WHO says African health workers need better circumcision tools

Geneva, Sept 2 : WHO (World Health Organisation) researchers have found that African health workers needed better tools and more training to circumcise men and boys safely for HIV prevention and other ailments.

The research found that due to the traditional ways of circumcision, as many as 35 percent of males developed "shocking" complications like bleeding, infection, excessive pain and erectile dysfunction from the procedure, reported The News.

Six percent of the patients had life-long problems after faulty circumcision, said the study findings and added that "Other common adverse effects reported were pain upon urination, incomplete circumcision requiring re-circumcision, and laceration."

Although male circumcision is universally practised in Bungoma, the study said many clinicians there lacked sharp and clean instruments and few were formally trained. Even in public clinics, the complication rate was 18 per cent.

The findings, published on Monday in the WHO Bulletin, raised questions about whether the availability of male circumcision should be extended quickly as part of a strategy to fight HIV backed by the WHO and its sister UN agency UNAIDS.

In their report prepared after the study, the researchers said: "Extensive training and resources will be necessary to build the capacity of health facilities in sub-Saharan Africa before safe circumcision services can be aggressively promoted for HIV prevention."

ANI