Circumcision turns to schoolboys as adults shy away

Correspondent | Monday March 17, 2014 15:54

 

Minister of Health

Even with the help of schoolboys, the number of circumcised males in Botswana is only slightly over 100,000, against the targeted 385,000.

Initially, the government had set an ambitious target to circumcise 480,000 HIV negative males by 2016.  Now the health authorities are chasing infants with a programme called Early Infant Safe Male circumcision, which started in February this year.

Botswana’s poor male circumcision statistics have seen one of the sponsors of the circumcision drive, Japanese company JHPEGO, withdrawing funds after the country failed to meet the target of circumcising 40 males per day.