Danda Grace, Mavundla Thandisizwe, Mudokwenyu-Rawdon Christina
Department of Nursing and Midwifery Sciences, National University of Science and Technology, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
Department of Nursing Education, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Health SA. 2022 Jul 25;27:1794. doi: 10.4102/hsag.v27i0.1794. eCollection 2022.
Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) is a global strategy for reducing female-to-male sexual transmission of HIV. Women whose partners are circumcised benefit from a reduced risk of contracting other sexually transmitted diseases; making their role in VMMC critical. The objective of our study was to identify and synthesize existing evidence related to women's role in promoting VMMC from a regional perspective. The review and selection process were guided by the Problem; Intervention; Comparison and Outcome (PICO) model, which facilitated the exclusion of irrelevant studies. The search strategy search terms for the PICO components with synonyms, related terms and specialist terms were harvested from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)© and Embase©. The inclusion criteria were published studies in English and relevant to women's role in VMMC for the prevention of HIV between 2007 and 2020. Four key categories emerged from the literature as follows: role of women, VMMC uptake, barriers and facilitators of VMMC. The majority of the studies concur on the importance of involving women in VMMC uptake as they have the power to negotiate with their male partners through communication and can persuade men to be circumcised, making it a joint decision. The benefits of VMMC in improving sexual pleasure and attractiveness of the penis seemed to positively convince women to influence and educate men to improve the uptake of VMMC. Women are motivated to convince men to undergo male circumcision (MC) because of the benefits associated with them such as reduction of HIV transmission and cervical cancer. There are, however, limited studies focusing on women's involvement in VMMC; hence, more research to explore this area is recommended.
This review revealed the important role played by women in influencing men to undergo MC but highlight the need for more studies on women's involvement in VMMC.
自愿男性包皮环切术（VMMC）是一项减少女性向男性性传播艾滋病毒的全球战略。伴侣接受包皮环切术的女性感染其他性传播疾病的风险降低，这使得她们在VMMC中发挥着关键作用。我们研究的目的是从区域角度识别和综合与女性在促进VMMC中的作用相关的现有证据。综述和选择过程以问题、干预、对照和结果（PICO）模型为指导，该模型有助于排除无关研究。从医学主题词表（MeSH）©和Embase©中收集了PICO组件的搜索策略搜索词及其同义词、相关词和专业术语。纳入标准为2007年至2020年间以英文发表的、与女性在VMMC预防艾滋病毒中的作用相关的研究。文献中出现了四个关键类别，如下所示：女性的作用、VMMC的接受情况、VMMC的障碍和促进因素。大多数研究都认同让女性参与VMMC接受过程的重要性，因为她们有能力通过沟通与男性伴侣协商，并能说服男性接受包皮环切术，使其成为一个共同的决定。VMMC在改善性快感和阴茎吸引力方面的益处似乎能积极地说服女性去影响和教育男性，以提高VMMC的接受率。女性因与男性包皮环切术相关的益处（如减少艾滋病毒传播和宫颈癌）而有动力说服男性接受包皮环切术。然而，关注女性参与VMMC的研究有限；因此，建议开展更多研究来探索这一领域。
本综述揭示了女性在影响男性接受包皮环切术方面所起的重要作用，但强调需要对女性参与VMMC进行更多研究。
