Development of a women empowerment framework to promote voluntary medical male circumcision uptake for HIV prevention in Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT Introduction: This study aimed to develop a women empowerment framework to promote Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) uptake for human immune-deficiency virus (HIV) prevention, guided by the following objectives: To explore relevant literature on the role of women in promoting male circumcision uptake; To develop a women empowerment framework to promote male circumcision uptake; To describe the women empowerment framework to promote male circumcision uptake. Methods: The study used a theory-generation design to explore, describe and develop a women empowerment framework from a broad literature review. Results: A three-phase approach suitable for the framework development emerged from the literature review. Phase one involved exploring relevant literature on role of women in male circumcision uptake, using the Population/problem, Intervention, Comparison and Outcome (PICO) method to identify and define the key concepts. Phase 2 adopted and adapted Maibvise and Mavundla model in identifying the following concepts: change agents as the health care providers, recipients as the women to influence men eligible for male circumcision, promoting male circumcision uptake and success of the male circumcision program. Phase 3 provided a detailed description of the framework including three key steps of empowerment of women, influencing positive perceptions of men and utilisation of male circumcision services. Conclusions: The identified concepts resulted in development of a women empowerment framework, which can be used as an education and advocacy tool in building the capacity of women in supporting the male circumcision programme to promote uptake. Further research is required to expand the utilisation of the framework in male circumcision healthcare services. KEY WORDS: Women empowerment, framework, voluntary medical male circumcision, male circumcision uptake, HIV prevention