Case series of glans injuries during voluntary medical male circumcision for HIV prevention - eastern and southern Africa, 2015-2018.

BACKGROUND: Male circumcision confers partial protection against heterosexual HIV acquisition among men. The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has supported > 18,900,000 voluntary medical male circumcisions (VMMC). Glans injuries (GIs) are rare but devastating adverse events (AEs) that can occur during circumcision. To address this issue, PEPFAR has supported multiple interventions in the areas of surveillance, policy, education, training, supply chain, and AE management. METHODS: Since 2015, PEPFAR has conducted surveillance of GIs including rapid investigation by the in-country PEPFAR team. This information is collected on standardized forms, which were reviewed for this analysis. RESULTS: Thirty-six GIs were reported from 2015 to 2018; all patients were < 15 years old (~ 0·7 per 100,000 VMMCs in this age group) with a decreasing annual rate (2015: 0.7 per 100,000 VMMCs; 2018: 0.4 per 100,000 VMMC; p = 0.02). Most (64%) GIs were partial or complete amputations. All amputations among 10-14 year-olds occurred using the forceps-guided (FG) method, as opposed to the dorsal-slit (DS) method, and three GIs among infants occurred using a Mogen clamp. Of 19 attempted amputation repairs, reattached tissue was viable in four (21%) in the short term. In some cases, inadequate DS method training and being overworked, were found. CONCLUSION: Following numerous interventions by PEPFAR and other stakeholders, GIs are decreasing; however, they have not been eliminated and remain a challenge for the VMMC program. Preventing further cases of complete and partial amputation will likely require additional interventions that prevent use of the FG method in young patients and the Mogen clamp in infants. Improving management of GIs is critical to optimizing outcomes.

Bleeding and Blood Disorders in Clients of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention - Eastern and Southern Africa, 2015-2016.

Male circumcision reduces the risk for female-to-male human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission by approximately 60% (1) and has become a key component of global HIV prevention programs in countries in Eastern and Southern Africa where HIV prevalence is high and circumcision coverage is low. Through September 2017, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) had supported 15.2 million voluntary medical male circumcisions (VMMCs) in 14 priority countries in Eastern and Southern Africa (2). Like any surgical intervention, VMMC carries a risk for complications or adverse events. Adverse events during circumcision of males aged ≥10 years occur in 0.5% to 8% of procedures, though the majority of adverse events are mild (3,4). To monitor safety and service quality, PEPFAR tracks and reports qualifying notifiable adverse events. Data reported from eight country VMMC programs during 2015-2016 revealed that bleeding resulting in hospitalization for ≥3 days was the most commonly reported qualifying adverse event. In several cases, the bleeding adverse event revealed a previously undiagnosed or undisclosed bleeding disorder. Bleeding adverse events in men with potential bleeding disorders are serious and can be fatal. Strategies to improve precircumcision screening and performance of circumcisions on clients at risk in settings where blood products are available are recommended to reduce the occurrence of these adverse events or mitigate their effects (5).

Voluntary medical male circumcision service delivery in South Africa: The economic costs and potential opportunity for private sector involvement.

BACKGROUND: In 2010, the South African Government initiated a voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) program as a part of the country's HIV prevention strategy based on compelling evidence that VMMC reduces men's risk of becoming HIV infected by approximately 60%. A previous VMMC costing study at Government and PEPFAR-supported facilities noted that the lack of sufficient data from the private sector represented a gap in knowledge concerning the overall cost of scaling up VMMC services. This study, conducted in mid-2016, focused on surgical circumcision and aims to address this limitation. METHODS: VMMC service delivery cost data were collected at 13 private facilities in three provinces in South Africa: Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and Mpumalanga. Unit costs were calculated using a bottom-up approach by cost components, and then disaggregated by facility type and urbanization level. VMMC demand creation, and higher-level management and program support costs were not collected. The unit cost of VMMC service delivery at private facilities in South Africa was calculated as a weighted average of the unit costs at the 13 facilities. KEY FINDINGS: At the average annual exchange rate of R10.83 = $1, the unit cost including training and cost of continuous quality improvement (CQI) to provide VMMC at private facilities was $137. The largest cost components were consumables (40%) and direct labor (35%). Eleven out of the 13 surveyed private sector facilities were fixed sites (with a unit cost of $142), while one was a fixed site with outreach services (with a unit cost of $156), and the last one provided services at a combination of fixed, outreach and mobile sites (with a unit cost per circumcision performed of $123). The unit cost was not substantially different based on the level of urbanization: $141, $129, and $143 at urban, peri-urban, and rural facilities, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The private sector VMMC unit cost ($137) did not differ substantially from that at government and PEPFAR-supported facilities ($132 based on results from a similar study conducted in 2014 in South Africa at 33 sites across eight of the countries nine provinces). The two largest cost drivers, consumables and direct labor, were comparable across the two studies (75% in private facilities and 67% in public/PEPFAR-supported facilities). Results from this study provide VMMC unit cost data that had been missing and makes an important contribution to a better understanding of the costs of VMMC service delivery, enabling VMMC programs to make informed decisions regarding funding levels and scale-up strategies for VMMC in South Africa.