Education and advocacy

How can we meet the challenge? Dr. Joson believes that basically, it can be achieved by public health education and advocacy.

Dr. Joson proposes public health education measures that will consist essentially of sending the message to the public through all forms of media that: "Tuli-Di Kailangan! Masakit!" Advocacy will consist essentially of actively campaigning against routine male circumcision by first explaining the issues and then convincing the public, especially the parents and male children that Tuli - Di Kailangan! Masakit! Hopefully, with the advocacy, the belief and behavior will change and Dr. Joson is confident that the peer pressure will also dissipate.

The strongest strategy in advocacy is for the physicians to speak out against routine circumcision. The public considers the physicians as the professionals to turn to when it comes to issues on circumcision. The public still has high respect for physicians in the Philippines.

The Department of Surgery and the Department of Family and Community Medicine of the Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center headed by Dr. Joson have come out with a stand against routine circumcision. The group hopes that the Department of Health, Philippine Medical Association, Philippine Pediatric Society, Philippine College of Surgeons and other medical societies will also come out with a stand on the issue.

There is a very pertinent quote from a book, which gives us an insight on most doctors' ambivalence on the issue and what its impact on the public is. The author wrote: "One doctor said that he talked to every parent and male child who came to him for this purpose (circumcision), explaining the consequences and saying that it was unnecessary, but found they insisted upon having it done, so he complies. His justification was that he did it in a hygienic way and lost nothing by it. On the contrary, he gained money. But he overlooked the fact that he is acting unethically...abdicating his role as a model of enlightenment for others; one can only assume that he is simply pursuing his own interests. The negative effect of this is that when we try to convince the parents and their children that this operation is not necessary, they immediately reply that doctors do it, therefore it must be a good thing."

Crusade

Dr. Joson makes a passionate plea to the parents. He says: "Not only are the doctors the key opinion molders in this issue. The voice of the parents and even the children will be stronger-in fact, strongest. If they are convinced about the nonnecessity of circumcision, they should also voice out their stand on it for the sake of their children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and great, great grandchildren."

In this day and age of liposuction, breast augmentation, noselift and other cosmetic surgeries deemed simply capricious by many, Dr. Joson's crusade against unnecessary circumcision may just be a tiny voice in the wilderness. But he remains steadfast in his advocacy and many are starting to join him as he looks forward to the day when the medical community and the public can put this circumcision issue to rest and men can grow up remaining whole, still physically unaltered, and not a bit diminished because they are not circumcised.