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UN advice: circumcise to prevent HIV

International health agencies sing praises of surgical procedure.

The United Nations (UN) has recommended circumcision as a means of reducing the risk of HIV infection in heterosexual men. The announcement should pave the way for African governments to incorporate the practice into their AIDS-prevention strategies.

Read the story here.

Posted by Nicola Jones on March 28, 2007 05:50 PM |

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I have been reading the reports comming out of Africa for several months now. I have some questions that I have not found answers to.
1) The studies were only for about one year, the data points to a reduction in the rate but not a reduction in the total number of infections. Has anyone shown permanent protection or will mass cutting only lead to a few years increase in the median age of infection with little effect on total infection percentages. This would not be to these nations advantage since they would still have to deal with crushing HIV infections as a percentage of population.
2) Has any organization recommended this for the developed world. Since the US has both the highest circumcision and aids rate of any industrial country it would seem that it has not been effective in the US.
3) Have you reviewed the recent article in the British Journal of Urology (April 2007) describing the impact of infant circumcision on adults and sensitivity. A balanced report should also mention that there are risks and long term impacts as well as benefits. Substituting surgery for education is a gamble that may or may not pay off for Africa. In addition, promoting male circumcision may very well increase the calls for female circumcision (a practice common in Africa), which for some reason is decried as a human rights issue while male circumcision is accepted as akin to a haircut. Surgery should be the last resort as there are always unintended consequences.

S. Anderson

Posted by: Scot Anderson | April 2, 2007 11:01 PM

And what other body parts should we remove to prevent disease? Should we remove women's breasts to prevent breast cancer? Lungs to prevent lung cancer? Should every adult over a certain age have a colonectomy? Or, to take it to the limit, suicide does prevent death from illness or accident...

Posted by: Jean SmilingCoyote | April 3, 2007 05:15 PM

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