The practice of male circumcision had been observed in some civilizations, particularly Egypt, centuries ago. The most known proponents are the Jews who were commanded by God to circumcise every male as a sign of covenant between them and Him. In circumcision the foreskin is removed from the penis (Tuzin 2006). At first the main objective for circumcision was cleanliness or personal hygiene and to mark the entrance to manhood but as the years go by it was discovered that circumcision lowers the risk of some Urinary Tract Infection and penile cancer.
Just recently medical experts also claimed that circumcision prevents HIV infection. For a time, the medical benefits of circumcision had been a debated issue in the medical field until in just recent years studies had supported the positive effect of circumcision on the health of an individual. In fact for the last 10 years researchers in the medical field had published considerable data and evidence confirming and reinforcing the medical benefit of circumcision in protecting against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.
As published on July 10, 2006 in the Public Library of Science Medicine Journal “routine male circumcisions across sub-Saharan Africa could prevent two million new HIV infections and 300,000 AIDS-related deaths in the next ten years. An additional 3. 7 million new HIV infections and 2. 7 million deaths could be avoided in the next 20 years”. (“Study Shows Male Circumcision” 2006). The above analysis was taken from a study conducted in the South African province of Gauteng that was populated by approximately nine million people.
The more than 3,000 participants of the study were randomly chosen from among 18-24 uncircumcised male age groups who were not infected with HIV. The objective of the study was to determine the extent of HIV infection among circumcised and uncircumcised male. Accordingly, the group was divided into two, one half of them were circumcised and the other remained uncircumcised. The study revealed, “for every ten uncircumcised men who contracted HIV, only three circumcised men contracted the virus” (“Study Shows Male Circumcision” 2006).
In other words, there will be a 60% reduction of HIV infection if males are circumcised. Further medical investigation had convinced the researchers that the reason for the decreased transmission rate of HIV among circumcised males is that the foreskin facilitates the survival of HIV virus by nature of its being warm and wet environment. This means that the cells of the foreskin easily bind itself with the virus thereby fostering infection. Researches then concluded that the reduced male infection would also naturally reduce female infection.
However, the researchers carefully added “male circumcision alone cannot bring the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa under control. Even circumcised men can become infected, though their risk of doing so is much lower. ” Endorsing male circumcision is not a bad idea. There was no report that says it poses a harmful effect on the person involved. It does not in any way lessen sexual sensation and pleasure. Nor does it cause any infertility. In fact, it is highly recommended for hygienic purposes (Turzin 2006). And now that it is proven to prevent HIV infection or some diseases all the more that a male should consider undergoing it.
V. Sexual behavior No doubt, the sexual behaviors of Sub-Saharan people had contributed largely to the acceleration of the spread of HIV in Sub-Saharan countries. Almost all cases of HIV infection in Africa can be attributed to sexual transmission (UNAIDS/WHO 2005). Sexual behaviors in Sub-Saharan countries can be described in three ways: the practice of polygyny (marriage of one man to two or more women) or extramarital relationships; long incidence of premarital sex due to late marriage and cross-generational and transactional sexual relationships.
In most Sub-Saharan regions men are allowed to marry more than one woman especially if they adhere to Islamic faith (Aina 4 ). This marriage provides greater opportunities to transmit the disease to a greater number of people, and consequently to a greater number of children. A countrywide household survey done in 2004-2005 found that men were much more likely to have multiple partners than were women—29% of men and only 4% of women said they had had more than one sexual partner in the last 12 months( UNAIDS 2006).
In Uganda especially, wives were expected to tolerate the extramarital affairs of his husband for the propagation of his lineage (Aina 6). This means that as more men make sexual contact with many women, there is the tendency that one man will infect more women. In Sub-Saharan regions it was customary for parents to marry off their daughters a young age. The parents arranged the marriage of their daughters at a young age in order for her not to “dishonor” her family by losing her virginity. Upon the presentation of a bride wealth the daughter is married off to an interested male.
However, with the passing of time these strict traditional values are replaced with a more liberated and perhaps permissive one. Around 1970’s and 1980’s it was reported that in western and middle Africa 53% female already marry by age 15-19. In eastern and southern Africa 38% of these age groups get married. But twenty years later reports revealed there was a drop in the early marriage of Sub-Saharan females, from 53% in western and middle Africa it went down to 38 % and from 38% in eastern and southern Africa it went down to 25%.
The change in the trend can be attributed to the loosening of parental control. Due to poverty, the African females were driven to move away from their rural communities to urban areas in search for a job. Being away from home fosters an independent life away from the scrutiny of their parents. They were therefore free to engage in premarital sexual activities with the opposite sex. As the teen also became the bread winner in the home, her parents hesitates to force them to marry young or to exercise their parental power over them.
As a result the teen have the freedom to choose when they do get married. The African males were also having a say on whom or when they do get married. The modern times had placed the burden of paying or earning of the bride wealth to them rather than to their parents so that the decision to marry rested on their shoulders. Most often than not, they delay their marriage while freely engaging in premarital sex (Mensch 3-7). This type of sexual behavior exposes both male and females to HIV infection.
The results of the study conducted by Demographic and Health Surveys in Kenya and Ghana in 2003 and ecological data collected from among 33 sub-Saharan African countries had revealed the relationship between marital status and the prevalence and incidence of HIV. The researchers concluded that there is positive correlation between the increase of HIV and the median age at first marriage. Meaning that in general the longer the young people get married in a country the more prevalent is HIV.
Moreover, they had also observed that the longer is the interval from first sexual contact and first marriage the more prevalent is HIV (UNAIDS/WHO 2005). Another prevalent practice in Sub-Saharan regions is the cross-generational and transactional sexual relations. Reports showed that many adolescent Sub-Saharan females engage in sexual relationships with older men who were more than six or ten years older who had the economic means to attract the younger girls. Many of these relationships are non-marital or extramarital ones.
The main reason that adolescent girls enter this kind of relationship is because they get something in return, a gift or money from which to buy their needs and wants. Other reasons is that the girls used his relationship (especially with a wealthier older men) to increase their life chances through education or work. In other words, there was some form of economic transaction between the two. According to studies in this kind of relationship the greater the age difference of the two partners the more susceptible are the women to HIV infection.
It is because older men had the greater tendency to carry the virus (because of their many previous sexual experiences). Also, in this situation the girls do not have the power to impose their sexual preferences to the man. If the man will demand that they do not use condom she had no choice but to oblige. It was revealed that the greater is the gift or rewards given to the girls the more are the non-use of condom (Luke 3-4). In reality, the adolescent girl’s power is limited only in choosing to whom she will have a relationship and in how many numbers but with regards to sexual practices with the chosen partner she had no power.
She may not be able to insist what to do and no to do during intercourse because it may jeopardize the relationship, which could mean her gifts or rewards may be withhold. Or, perhaps because she did not actually perceived the high risk of HIV infection. The man may insist that she trust him. Changing the sexual behaviors of men and women is not an easy thing to do. This is something that they had been accustomed in doing for years aside from the fact there is unequaled pleasure in sexual intercourse.
But in spite of these obstacles, a positive report can be taken from Uganda where there was a marked decline in HIV infection as seen on the study of pregnant women. The same positive drop can be observed in some parts of Kenya. In Kenya, the proportions of men and women with more than one sexual partner reduced by more than half in 1993–2003, and more young men and women are delaying their first sexual activity (UNAIDS/WHO 2005) Conclusion AIDS or HIV infection is a dreaded highly contagious and incurable disease. Most of the victims of AIDS can be found in Sub-Saharan region.
The countries belonging to these regions are poor ones where lack of education is widespread. The main reason why HIV easily spread in these countries is due to people’s lack of awareness to the nature, prevention and mode of transmission of the disease. Studies had observed that there was poor condom use, low circumcision rate and sexual behaviors in such as polygyny or extramarital affairs, premarital sex among the youth and cross-generational and transactional sexual relationships that facilitates the rapid increase of HIV infection.
Studies had shown that increasing condom use, circumcising male and practicing proper sexual behavior (such as abstaining from extramarital and premarital sex) could dramatically lessen the prevalence of the disease. Bibliography Aina, Olabisi I. , and et al. Sexual Health and Sexual Rights within Marriage. Africa Regional Sexuality
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