NATIONAL OPERATIONAL PLAN FOR THE SCALE UP OF VOLUNTARY MEDICAL MALE CIRCUMCISION (VMMC) IN ZAMBIA (2016-2020)

Abstract

The Ministry of Health (MoH), in collaboration with cooperating partners, has developed this operational plan to assist in the efficient and effective implementation of the Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) program in Zambia. This program was initiated in 2007 and subsequently scaled up in order to reduce the incidence and prevalence of HIV in Zambia. The Ministry hopes to continue with this effort by capitalizing on lessons learnt in the past years of implementation and leveraging renewed energy and support from partners. The goal for this phase of implementation is to circumcise 1,985,083 million males by 2020, which represents 90% coverage of males between the ages of 10 – 49 with a focus on those between 15 – 29 years. This is in line with the UNAIDS 90-90-90 strategy to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic.The MoH encourages all stakeholders to continue to strengthen their commitment to the implementation of Zambia’s national VMMC program over the next five years as part of the greater effort to address Zambia’s HIV and AIDS epidemic.