Abstract
The World Health Organization has recommended the scale-up of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) for HIV prevention in sub-Saharan Africa; however, men are often uninterested in undergoing VMMC. The Spear & Shield project enrolled 668 men and female partners from ten Zambian community health centers into parallel interventions promoting VMMC for HIV prevention or time-matched control conditions. A mediation model was utilized to examine the relationships between changes in women’s acceptance of VMMC and men’s readiness to undergo the procedure. Results demonstrated that, at 12 months post-intervention, a 5.9 % increase in the likelihood of undergoing VMMC among men in the experimental condition could be attributed to increased women’s acceptance. From a public health perspective, involving women in VMMC promotion interventions such as the Spear & Shield project could significantly impact the demand for VMMC in Zambia.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 2503-2513 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | AIDS and Behavior |
Volume | 20 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 1 2016 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Couples
- Voluntary medical male circumcision
- Women
- Zambia
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Infectious Diseases