10-year-old boy circumcises himself

A 10-year-old boy in Kisii County circumcised himself after what he termed as discrimination from his peers.

Reports indicate that the boy used a knife to cut himself after facing ridicule from his peers who had undergone the cut.

As a result of the injuries he sustained, the boy was taken to a dispensary and later transferred to the Kisii County Referral Hospital.

The incident is said to have happened a month ago.

In 2019, a study by Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) of US, reported that boys, some aged under 10 years, have been circumcised without the mandatory parental consent.

The study, funded by the US government and published on August 2, 2019, said some of the children circumcised without parental consent were found to suffer depression related to the event.

The team involving the University of North Carolina, US, had sampled 1,939 adolescents who went through the voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) in Western Kenya.

“It is worrisome, the team says, that about 10 per cent reported that consent for the procedure was not obtained from a parent, guardian or other adult family member.

“If our finding held true for the estimated 623,773 circumcisions supported by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) between 2013 and 2016, then more than 35,000 minors may have been circumcised without parent or guardian consent,” says the study appearing in journal Aids and Behaviour.

In Kenya, consent from parents or guardians and assent from minors is required for medical male circumcision for individuals under 18 years.