Support for Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) for HIV Prevention among Men and Women in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Background: Medical male circumcision was introduced in Zimbabwe in 2009 as an additional HIV prevention method. This study sought to investigate support for the roll-out of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) and men’s willingness to get circumcised for HIV prevention. Data and Methods: Data for this study was collected from a randomly selected sample of 681 men and women in the age group 18-49 years in Harare, Zimbabwe. The obtained data was analysed using descriptive statistics, bivariate and regression analysis. Results and Conclusion: The results of the study suggest that knowledge and acceptability of VMMC is high. However, despite the relatively high knowledge and acceptability of VMMC, less than half of the male participants were willing to undergo circumcision for HIV prevention. The study concluded that there is anapparent gap between knowledge and acceptability of VMMC and men’s willingness to undergo circumcision for HIV prevention.