Thapelo Mokakangwe had always wanted to undergo voluntary medical male circumcision but he had his own fears about it, what held him back the most was hearing all sorts of things about circumcision, from the pain you have during and after to not having sexual intercourse for a while due to unbearable pain.
A man who looks younger than his age of 28 years and lives in Tlokweng, opted to circumcise after his close friend told him about PrePex.
Prepex is a medical device developed to facilitate non-surgical voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) of adults as part of a comprehensive HIV prevention strategy.
The Prepex device does not routinely require injectable anaesthesia or suturing, however, some pain may occur (although less than with conventional surgery), during the first few hours to days after device has been placed and during removal. It requires less time to perform than conventional surgery, but must be worn for one week and requires two visits to a provider – one for placement and a second for removal. It takes about one to two weeks longer to heal than by conventional surgery as healing is by secondary intention. Effective education and counselling in line with the service package for male circumcision is provided before insertion.
“I had always been nervous to get circumcised but after I heard about Prepex from my friend I decided to get the service”; said the young man. When I heard from the ACHAP team that they have a clinic here in Nkoyaphiri where they do circumcision I decided to come for the service. When asked how he felt before the procedure, he bluntly said “Ke Shapo” (slang for, I’m fine).
When we called him a week after he had done the procedure, the young man sounded happy with the service he got and admitted that there were no complications. He said the pain was not severe at all,” it was more like a small pinch” described Thapelo.
ACHAP continues to support this national programme (SMC) collaborating with the Ministry of Health to improve population health. (ACHAP)
