Japan withdraw circumcision funds

ONALENNA KELEBEILE
Staff Writer | Thursday August 29, 2013 00:00

SELEBI-PHIKWE: A Japanese company JHPEGO, has withdrawn funding for Safe Male Circumcision (SMC) because the country failed to meet the target of 40 males per day.The programme known as SMC/MOVE was a national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'Funds for this national strategy were withdrawn due to the programme failing to meet the set target of circumcising 40 males a day.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.

This was due to double rationing of all food commodities to Bobirwa Sub District, which was not catered for.The contract for vegetable oil had expired and a new one was signed and supply commenced last month. Products such as milk and sorghum meal got finished while the contract was still in force.According to Sitekia, this means that the menu was not followed and the diet was not balanced.The district officer further noted that shortage of food commodities had also been experienced in the health facilities.  She added that cases of growth failure in children under the age of five years had increased.

There were 76 cases of growth failure during the last quarter and 118 cases have been reported this quarter.'After government declared this year a drought year, it was recommended that Bobirwa, being the hardest hit, be rationed double but extra commodities were not availed,' she said.The report further states that many owners of projects funded by Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) in Selebi-Phikwe and its surroundings were failing to pay back loans.  Sitekia indicated that through the Business Advisory Unit (BAU) owners of problematic accounts are being assisted.

The report also shows that there were elements of diversion of funds for personal use more especially on Young Farmers Fund account.'Despite the fact that cheques for acquiring raw materials are made directly to the suppliers, some customers change the items intended to be purchased to source their own preferred items. 'Some utilise the proceeds for personal use stripping the cashflow of the business,' reads the report.