GABORONE, Botswana —Thatayaone Rampe has lost count of how many thousands of men he has talked into getting circumcised.
Rampe, 41, first learned about voluntary medical male circumcision, or VMMC, in the months after an expert panel convened by the World Health Organization recommended the procedure to reduce the risk of HIV transmission in 2007. Their guidance was based on evidence from three independent trials in Africa, each confirming that circumcision could reduce a man’s risk of being infected by a female partner by around 60%.
Funders, especially the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, began investing in VMMC programs across 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including in Botswana, where Rampe lives.
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About the author
Andrew Green@_andrew_green
Andrew Green, a 2025 Alicia Patterson Fellow, works as a contributing reporter for Devex from Berlin.
