Views of Male Community Elders With Regards to Medical Male Circumcision at Pfanani Clinic in Limpopo Province, South Africa

The purpose of this study was to explore the views of male community elders to Medical Male Circumcision at Pfanani clinic in Limpopo Province. A qualitative, descriptive and explorative research design was used. Purposive sampling was used whereby the researchers interviewed a total of 18 male community elders of ages ranging from 40 to 75 years who came for consultation at the Pfanani clinic. Data was collected using semi-structured one to one interviews. Data were analyzed using the Tesch’s open-coding method one theme and its sub-themes emerged. The study found that Medical Male Circumcision is sometimes not a safe procedure, there are several unexpected outcomes which are experienced, Traditional Male Circumcision predispose males to infections, the environment where the Traditional Male Circumcision is done predisposes males to bad environmental conditions, the period when the Traditional Male Circumcision is performed is viewed as a moral teaching session and lessons learned prepares boys for manhood. The study recommended that the Department of Health should conduct workshops and training for traditional circumcisers and train them on how to maintain sterility during circumcision to avoid the initiates not having infection.