In the old African tradition , a man’s power to procreate was once venerated and regarded as the ultimate symbol of virility. Centuries later , this fundamental feature of masculinity is now being used to combat one of Rwanda’s biggest issues that is the escalating population growth. Estimated in 2010 at having a population of 10.2 million , Rwanda already known for being one of the most densely populated countries in Africa is still growing in number at an alarming rate . This perhaps being the reason why , the Government more specifically the ministry of Health is resolving to extreme measures in order tackle this issue. The ministry of Health expects to have 700000 voluntaries enrolling in a program of vasectomy which will go hand in hand with a nationwide circumcision for men in an HIV prevention campaign. Implementation of this method of contraception , however raises a few questions that would need to be addressed. How extreme as a measures of contraception is this program? Does it have a high chance of being successful ? Have the other alternatives been exhausted ? What could be the consequences in the long run of undertaking this plan?
The vasectomy involves a surgical operation in which the patient will be permanently sterilized making it both unnatural and rather extreme in nature. Nonetheless even though the patient will be rid of his god given ability it is not a violation of Human Rights as it is done under their full consent. The ministry of health expects to face a strong opposition to this program and rightfully so , since the potential subjects will not only be unfamiliar with such methods of family planning but unwilling to take away the one thing that is a fundamental feature of their manhood. It should be noted however that these 700000 men will be volunteers therefore enrolling in such a program may further more imply the acceptance from their part of the incapacity to restrain oneself from using other means of prevention or simply unprotected sex. A character trait that might not be prevalent in most men. Chances are that it might not be successful but even though it’s 99% efficiency makes it the best method of family planning, should the government still go ahead and raise a campaign for it? I think not. Its aim for killing two birds with one stone by a simultaneous undertaking of circumcision and vasectomy in order to fight the HIV epidemic and population growth, might backfire in the long run.
The reason is simply that the two do not go hand in hand. The campaign for circumcision will be done under the aim of trying to reduce the chances of HIV infection through heterosexual intercourse. This fact is true, but at a very trivial extent. HIV is transmitted through bodily fluids be it semen or any vaginal fluid, circumcision merely if not negligibly reduces contact with such. leading a mass campaign that preaches circumcision as a measure for HIV prevention could be terrible as it could lead to a great misconception, that if spread within a population that has a high percentage of illiteracy and low levels of education could be disastrous. In such circumstances people might regard this as a free pass to unprotected sex which will ultimately go against its intended purpose of HIV prevention.
Not only that but undergoing a vasectomy means not being able to reproduce therefore reducing the need for condoms. Reducing condom use could possibly increase gradually. If it happened, this could contribute to an increase in HIV infection . Both the ideas of reduced HIV prevention and perfect birth control when combined together act as a the perfect ingredients towards less condom usage simply because the need for them is reduced. However when looking at things from a more critical approach, one can see that those two ingredients are merely recipes for disaster in the future. This is because the condom is the most decisive tool for killing two birds with one stone. It does both act as a means of HIV prevention and method of contraception , a feature that vasectomy and circumcision do not possess. Looking at things from a logical point of view , condom usage is the means at which I believe should be fully implemented and anything that might potentially act as a barrier should be considered and acted upon.
Vasectomy is undoubtedly the best means of birth control and no one can disregard the fact of population growth in Rwanda and the negative consequences it brings to our nation. I think it should be executed and encouraged to any volunteer however not at the scale at which it is planned on being done. This major population problem and HIV pandemic due to its sensitive nature should be looked act in a more cautious way. Because even though vasectomy might seem to solve one problem it might quite possibly lead to another. Being executed at such a scale could potentially lead to negative consequences in the future. Therefore precaution should be taken into consideration because as the saying goes it’s never best to win the battle and lose the war.
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