Program Officer Mkama Mwijarubi was recently featured as a guest writer for Science Speaks. In his post "In Tanzania, Medical Circumcision Services Rely on a Predominantly Female Nursing Workforce" he talks to Anagretha Gasper Cossam, a nurse midwife in Tanzania and asks her about her work in the health care field. 

Excerpt: 

In November 2010, Tanzania embarked on a nationwide campaign to scale up medical circumcision — which can decrease a man’s risk of HIV infection by up to 60 percent — in regions where men traditionally do not undergo it. Hundreds of nurses were trained to perform the procedure.

In Tanzania, more than 70 percent of the country’s 39,000 nurses are women. This sometimes complicates things, as some male clients are hesitant to undergo circumcision at the hands of a female health worker. I had the opportunity to sit down with Anagretha Gasper Cossam, a nurse midwife at Bariadi Town Council Hospital Tanzania, and ask a few questions about this particular aspect of her work.

Read the full article on Science Speaks here.