Luos To Embrace Male Circumsicion
By John Harrington Ndeta

NAIROBI, September 25 - The Luo community seems to have embraced scientific research into the relation between male circumcision and HIV/Aids. The research findings as presented at a conference in Kisumu last weekend tabled statistical evidence showing that male circumcision reduces chances of the male contracting HIV Aids by over 60 percent.

If this is true, then the community and many others who do not  practice the cut on traditional foundations should take a radical shift and embrace it at least for medical reasons.

Communities which practice male circumcision are markedly different from the medical solution being advanced to the Luo community.  Taken as a tradition, male circumcision has a lot of intrigues and practices that go onto it. The weight of circumcision to such communities is not in the cutting but in fulfilling a traditional requirement for the members of the community.

It is a right of passage for the young boys. In communities like the Bukusu, it does not matter if you have undergone the cut as along us you did not participate in the cultural ceremony where the young men are grouped in certain age-groups. If you go to hospital to be circumcised, you are not any better than a man who is uncircumcised in such communities and that is tradition proper.

Circumcision as fronted by Luo leaders and supported by research is not an affront in any way to the Luo traditions. Dr. Ogutu of the Luo council of elders would like the whole world to believe this and even suggests that it is a violation of Gods laws of creation.

What our Luo elder isn’t realizing is that he is misquoting God. It is the same God who commanded Abraham to circumcise himself and all his male descendants. It will be only fair that he lives God out of this matter and advance valid, convincing reasons as to why he would want his community to be held hostage by time-barred traditions.

If it is true that it goes against the established Luo traditions, then it is time to rethink these traditions. Progressive communities have had to discard diffident traditions which add no value to their communities and in the process adopt others which seem relevant in today’s world.

Take an example of the Kikuyu Community. They used to circumcise their women as part of their traditional heritage. However as time has gone-by and cutting women proved to be retrogressive, many Kikuyu’s have silently abandoned this practice in favour of better health practices and shunning cutting the woman. Other communities including Kamba, Meru and the Masai are following suit though with cultural hiccups.

Female Genital Mutilation has been widely condemned and thus, it is being abandoned for causing women untold suffering during and after the cut. Male circumcision on the other hand has been uploaded for reducing chances of contracting Sexually Transmitted Diseases due to the removal of the fore skin which tends to harbour disease causing substances which cause infections to men.

An old adage goes; necessity is the mother of invention. Today HIV/AIDS present one of the biggest challenges not just to the Luo community but Kenya as a whole. We need an urgent solution to curb its spread amongst all Kenyans and more so if the prescribed strategy is credible.

One could possibly argue that, then, why  circumcised men sufferings from HIV/AIDS? And that is where the beauty of science comes in. Scientific research never claims to know all like our traditions. It further gives evidence based on observation. It is this empirical approach to knowing that makes the research findings tabled at a forum in Kisumu charming to a majority of men who are trooping to Hospitals by the Lake side to undergo circumcision.

The researchers asserted that their findings showed that circumcised men are likely to contract HIV Aids but their chances are reduced by to up to 60%. This is remarkable and based on other research findings published in the passed showing high infection rates amongst communities which do not circumcise, then it is the way to go if we are to effectively fight against HIV/AIDS.

Dr. Valiere Alcena, an adjunct professor of medicine at New York Medical College, is arguably the first physician to hypothesize (over 20 years ago) that the lack of male circumcision in Africa and other places was partly responsible for sreading the HIV/AIDS virus. His theory was finally supported by the World Health Organization and UNAIDS in 2007. Dr. Valiere's inspiring story is written in the October issue of the Black Enterprise Magazine.

Dr. Alcena, a Haitian born professor of medicine whose theory may change the Luo culture.
 
All said and done, it is my considered opinion that the ABCs of HIV control remain relevant. Abstinence is the only sure way to avoid infections. If you can’t abstain, then be faithful to one partner and if that is still hard for you, then use a condom.

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