Kampala — THE Ministry of Health plans to encourage as many men in Uganda as possible to get circumcised to reduce the risk of catching the Aids virus, a senior health official has said.

"We have data in Uganda, Kenya, South Africa that is very clear that circumcision substantially reduces the risk of a man contracting HIV through sexual intercourse and this is what we are advocating for," Dr Sam Zaramba, the director general of health services, said on Wednesday.

Dr Zaramba warned, however, that circumcision should be done with the help of qualified clinical and medical officers. He said those who do it traditionally should do it with care or else "they are going to crack the penis and cause problems".

Dr Zaramba, who was addressing journalists at a cocktail party for members of the Commonwealth Medical Association and the Commonwealth Secretariat hosted by the Uganda Medical Association at Kabira Country Club in Kampala, said health workers and medical students will consequently be trained to carry out circumcision as the country embraces it as an important intervention strategy in the fight against HIV/Aids.

The World Health Organisation recommended male circumcision after three studies showed that circumcised men run a lower risk of contracting HIV.

The studies in Kenya and Uganda, financed by the National Institutes of Health Africa, found that the simple surgical procedure reduces the risk of HIV infection by half.

Some 130,000 new infections are recorded each year in Uganda.

In South Africa, Aids experts have also called for a mass circumcision programme after studies showed it reduced the rate of HIV infection by up to 60 percent.

Professor Alan Whiteside said all boys born in public hospitals should be offered the operation.

Already, Uganda's Ministry of Health has added another C - for circumcision - to the ABC strategy, forming ABCC.

Members of the Commonwealth Medical Association from East and West Africa, in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat, are in Kampala holding a two-day conference on HIV/Aids care and treatment.

The conference ends today.

President Museveni is a strong critic of male circumcision as an HIV prevention strategy, but Dr Zaramba said he wants him disabused of his views.

"We have had a dialogue with the President and he has talked about his scepticism about circumcision but we shall continue discussing with him and giving him facts about circumcision," he said.

Numbers increase

As it is, Ugandan men are already taking matters into their hands.

Kibuli Muslim Hospital Administrator Sinan Siraj Mbulambago recently said the number of people who turn up for circumcision has doubled following publication of the studies' findings.

Before that, the hospital used to get 20 clients weekly, but the number now stands at 40 a week. During holidays, the number rises to about 60 clients a week.

Dr Mbulambago said that 60 percent of the men who show up for the cut are non-Muslim.

"Before, we could take even two weeks without getting adult clients but now we are receiving many adults on the two days [Mondays and Fridays] when we conduct circumcision."

About 65 percent of people circumcised at the hospital are children.

He said that before the studies' results became public, circumcision was done for essentially religious and cultural reasons but now several people are embracing it for health purposes.