Delivery of male circumcision services: "Festina lente"

Sexually transmitted infections (STI) and antenatal care (ANC) clinics in Malawi: effective platforms for improving engagement of men at high HIV risk with voluntary medical male circumcision services

Introduction

Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC), an effective HIV prevention programme for men, is implemented in East and Southern Africa. Approximately 50% of VMMC clients are aged below 15 years. More targeted interventions to reach older men and others at higher short-term HIV risk are needed.

Methods

We implemented a quality improvement project testing the effectiveness of an active referral-based VMMC recruitment approach, targeting men attending STI clinics and those escorting partners to antenatal care (ANC) clinics, at Bwaila Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi. We compared the proportions aged older than 15 years among men who received VMMC following referral from STI and ANC clinics with those among men referred from standard community mobilisation. We also analysed referral cascades to VMMC.

Results

In total, 330 clients were circumcised after referral from STI (242) and ANC (88) clinics, as compared with 3839 other clients attributed to standard community mobilisation. All clients from ANC and STI clinics were aged over 15 years, as compared with 69% from standard community mobilisation. STI clinics had a higher conversion rate from counselling to VMMC than ANC (12% vs 9%) and a higher contribution to total circumcisions performed at the VMMC clinic (6% vs 2%).

Conclusions

Integrating VMMC recruitment and follow-up in STI and ANC clinics co-located with VMMC services can augment demand creation and targeting of men at risk of HIV, based on age and STI history. This approach can be replicated at least in similar health facilities with ANC and STI services in close proximity to VMMC service delivery.

Implementing voluntary medical male circumcision using an innovative, integrated, health systems approach: experiences from 21 districts in Zimbabwe

BACKGROUND

Despite increased support for voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) to reduce HIV incidence, current VMMC progress falls short. Slow progress in VMMC expansion may be partially attributed to emphasis on vertical (stand-alone) over more integrated implementation models that are more responsive to local needs. In 2013, the ZAZIC consortium began implementation of a 5-year, integrated VMMC program jointly with Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) in Zimbabwe.

OBJECTIVE

To explore ZAZIC's approach emphasizing existing healthcare workers and infrastructure, increasing program sustainability and resilience.

METHODS

A process evaluation utilizing routine quantitative data. Interviews with key MoHCC informants illuminate program strengths and weaknesses.

METHODS

A process evaluation utilizing routine quantitative data. Interviews with key MoHCC informants illuminate program strengths and weaknesses.

RESULTS

In start-up and year 1 (March 2013-September, 2014), ZAZIC expanded from two to 36 static VMMC sites and conducted 46,011 VMMCs; 39,840 completed from October 2013 to September 2014. From October 2014 to September 2015, 44,868 VMMCs demonstrated 13% increased productivity. In October, 2015, ZAZIC was required by its donor to consolidate service provision from 21 to 10 districts over a 3-month period. Despite this shock, 57,282 VMMCs were completed from October 2015 to September 2016 followed by 44,414 VMMCs in only 6 months, from October 2016 to March 2017. Overall, ZAZIC performed 192,575 VMMCs from March 2013 to March, 2017. The vast majority of VMMCs were completed safely by MoHCC staff with a reported moderate and severe adverse event rate of 0.3%.

CONCLUSION

The safety, flexibility, and pace of scale-up associated with the integrated VMMC model appears similar to vertical delivery with potential benefits of capacity building, sustainability and health system strengthening. These models also appear more adaptable to local contexts. Although more complicated than traditional approaches to program implementation, attention should be given to this country-led approach for its potential to spur positive health system changes, including building local ownership, capacity, and infrastructure for future public health programming.