Sixteen South African women die from cervical cancer every day. During Cervical Cancer Awareness Month (September), health NGO Right to Care calls on men to circumcise to help prevent the second most common cancer in women in South Africa, most often caused by a sexually transmitted infection. You can get Human papillomavirus (HPV) by having vaginal, anal or oral sexual intercourse with someone who has HPV.
The good news is that male circumcision is medically proven to reduce the spread of HIV and sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) such as HPV by up to 60%. Persistent infection with HPV, the most common STI, causes cervical cancer. HPV is also the cause of anal-, penile-, breast- and other reproductive-organ cancers.
“As part of our national male-circumcision programme we ask men to consider circumcision as one of the single-biggest ways not only to protect their health, but to protect the health of their female partners by preventing SA’s high rates of cervical cancer,” said Dr Khumbulani Moyo, head of the Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision programme at Right to Care.
While almost all sexually active people will be infected with HPV at some point, usually without symptoms; in most cases the immune system clears HPV from the body. It is the persistent infection of the cervix with high-risk HPV, if left untreated, that causes 95% of cervical cancers.
Role of male circumcision and HPV
A systematic review of 81 published studies and abstracts proves male circumcision is a powerful tool to reduce women’s risks of cervical cancer. It provides strong evidence that having circumcised male partners substantially reduces women’s risk of HPV infection and lowers the risk of cervical cancer, an HPV-dependent disease.
What men can expect when going for circumcision
Medical circumcision is performed under local anaesthetic and takes only 30 minutes. Besides the anaesthetic injection before the procedure there is very little pain. “Your health-care worker will tell you everything you need to know, including how to care for your wound,” said Moyo.
Many men worry about the effect a circumcision may have on their sex life, but when performed in a medical facility and under sterile conditions circumcision has no adverse effects on sexual function or pleasure. “In addition to encouraging men to circumcise, we also urge women to screen for cervical cancer with a Pap smear or HPV test,” said Moyo.
Right to Care is funded by the Centres for Disease Control through PEPFAR South Africa and has performed over 1,5 million safe circumcisions since 2012. The Department of Health provides circumcisions in 350 health facilities across 27 districts in eight provinces.
To find out more about free medical circumcision or to make an appointment, contact or send a “please call me” to the Right to Care circumcision call centre on 082 808 6152. You can also find Right to Care on Facebook.
