Table 4.

Themes and Supportive Quotes

Category	Theme	Quote
Preferred choice of circumcision method	Convectional	“When I decided to get circumcised I did not want to return to the facility, so after learning about all the three methods I chose conventional method.” [Male, 27 years, tertiary education, FGD] “All my life I have feared injections, how do you expect me to accept to be given an injection on the penis for an intervention that is not 100% in preventing acquisition HIV?” [Male, 37 years, Secondary education, IDI]
	Prepex	“Spilling blood when you are still alive is considered a curse, so I would prefer a bloodless circumcision.” [Male, 54 years, Primary education, KII] “I wish the government can make this available, my husband would get circumcised right away because his major fear is pain.” [Female, 29, primary education, IDI]
	Shangring	“I wish I had known about this method long ago, I would have already turned up for VMMC. Personally I really do not like injections and stiches.” [Male 38 years, Secondary education, IDI] “Taking care of a spouse after being circumcised can be challenging, but with this new method this is sorted.” [Female, 29 years, Primary education, FGD]
Providers' socio-demographics	Age	“In my culture it's not good for a big man to show your private parts to a minor more so your daughter, actually it's considered a curse to that child.” [Male, 43 years, primary education, KII] “If I am sick, I have no time to think of the age of the service provider, but for VMMC it's different because I am not sick. I do not want a young person working on me.” [Male, 33 years, primary education, FGD]
	Gender	“Nature is nature, I would not want a female more so a young one to circumcise me.” [Male, 19 years, Secondary education, FGD] “We feel safe if our men are worked on by fellow men, these men can easily fall in love with any woman.” [Female, 25 years, no education, FGD]
	Religion	“If a Muslim circumcises our children, we may think that they are converting them in Islam.” [Female, 32 years, no education, FGD] “Muslims have been circumcising for many years, I think they are the best, so government should promote them to conduct VMMC.” [Male, 62 years, primary education, IDI]
	Tribe	“Unless someone has a hidden agenda, why would someone come all the way from central just circumcise me? Government should train our own people to circumcise us” [Male, 53 years, no education, IDI] “If you manage to convince me, I do not want a Mugisu or Muslim to circumcise my sons. I just hate the way they do it and I do not want my sons to go through that experience.” [Female, 41 years, primary education, FGD]
	Cadre	“It does not matter, we know that all service providers are educated.” [Male, 41 years, primary education, FGD] “More qualified service providers are the ideal. Personally I would like a medical doctor circumcising me, that way I would feel very comfortable remember a man is only a man depending on the functions of his penis.” [Male, 56 year, primary education, IDI]
Mode of service delivery	Static	“Unlike my friends, I wanted to be circumcised so I preferred to be at the facility because it's easy to disguise unlike in a camp where everyone will know that you have gone for circumcisions” [Male, 17 years secondary education, FGD] “I feel comfortable getting circumcised at the static site because I will be assured to get post operation care from my usual place.” [Male, 37 years, no education, FGD]
	Mobile(outreach and Camps)	“I had always wanted to get circumcised but I only feared walking back home with a wound yet the distance is long. The moment I saw a camp near our home, I even missed school just to get circumcised.” [Male, 22 years, Secondary education, FGD] “I can never allow my grandchildren to be circumcised from a camp, many times the standards in this camps are below the minimum standards.” [Male, 46 years, secondary education, IDI] “My son was circumcised from the camp. Three days later he got a problem that needed attention, but we found no one at the camp site.” [Female, 34 years, primary education, IDI]