2017-07-26Staff Report 2 Nuusita Ashipala Ongwediva-Oshana Region’s Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) programme has reached at least 70 percent of its circumcision target by circumcising about 3,151 men of the set target of 4,500. The target was set between last October and September this year. VMMC demand creation coordinator in Oshana, Harold Kandjii, said given the number of men turning up for circumcision he is confident that come September they will reach the set target. Kandjii said VMMC is currently targeting learners and is in negotiations with the education ministry to release learners willing to be circumcised during weekdays. Currently learners are only circumcised on Fridays, Saturdays and during school holidays. “If such permission is granted we will definitely reach our target,” stated Kandjii. He further said the office is also working towards increasing the number of community mobilizers to eight, from four, to ensure they target more people. In addition, the Oshana office will further strengthen the outreach teams and is planning to set up at least two teams at two schools in the region during the school holidays. “The learners are really coming in big numbers and on Saturday alone we had circumcised 91 boys altogether,” stated Kandjii. Apart from the plans in place, VMMC Oshana also awarded certificates of appreciation to Omagongati Combined School and Olukolo Primary School for working towards getting a large number of boys below 10 years circumcised. Omagongati Combined School Grade 10s were circumcised during this month while Olukolo had 85 percent of all learners in Grade 4 circumcised. Since March this year, the VMMC programme started to track and count the number of boys who were circumcised in each grade at the various schools in the region. As part of further encouraging learners, VMMC has further resorted to present a platinum award to schools reaching a target of 90 percent and a gold award to the school reaching 80 percent. 2017-07-26Staff Report 2
