Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe all have launched national campaigns urging men to undergo circumcision to help reduce their risk of contracting or transmitting HIV infection, but “all the countries are lagging far behind their targets,” Agence France-Presse reports in an article focusing on efforts in Botswana. A three-year-old campaign in Botswana, aimed at convincing 460,000 men to get circumcised, “has reached only seven percent of this figure,” the news agency notes, adding, “Now the government has enlisted the help of top musicians and launched a new series of advertisements touting ‘safe male circumcision’ as a lifeline.”

According to AFP, “Botswana has no tradition of circumcision, giving the government a tough sales pitch — even for a procedure done with local anesthetic, taking only a few minutes and requiring only a few days recovery.” The news service notes most men say they fear the pain of the procedure, that the recovery time will be long, and how it will affect their sex lives (Moyo, 5/14).