Repackaging information on male circumcision for rural adolescent males in Zimbabwe

Purpose: To investigate how current promotional materials on MMC are being understood by rural adolescent boys in Makonde district.
Methods: 138 adolescents between 12 and 19 years of age will be selected from households in the target location. Data will be collected using a questionnaire with both open and closed items through an interview. In addition to individual interviews, in-depth interviews will also be conducted with key informants to be drawn from the Ministry of Health, Population Services International (PSI), the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council and the National AIDS Council. Qualitative data on conceptualisations of the current discourse on male circumcision and HIV prevention will be collected from 3 focussed group discussions. Data analysis will be done using SPSS for quantitative data and NVivo for qualitative data. The actual analysis will involve descriptive statistics to determine the prevalence of MC and qualitative content analysis for data gathered from FGDs.
Expected Results: Prevalence of male circumcision (both traditional and medical) is expected to be low, and so is the knowledge about the procedure. Attitudes about MMC are expected to be generally positive. Findings of this study are expected to be used to evaluate the current advertisements on MMC for HIV prevention.