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WHO/UNAIDS recommends safe, voluntary male circumcision for adult men as one important component of a comprehensive strategy to prevent HIV infection and maximize public health benefits.
Historically, male circumcision has been practised for various reasons, including hygiene, religion, tradition, and culture.
In late 2006, two randomised controlled trials on whether male circumcision reduces HIV transmission were halted because interim results showed an overwhelming protective effect, validating the results from an earlier South African trial conducted in Orange Farm. Based on the weight of the evidence from both observational studies and randomised trials, public health leaders have concluded that male circumcision — when performed by well trained and well equipped health professionals — can significantly reduce the risk of HIV infection among adult men, and thus the number of new infections per year.
Media professionals have a key role to play in translating scientific information and informing the public about this new, partially effective HIV prevention strategy.
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News and events
Male circumcision: lessons from Kenya’s first year
The first evaluation of the implementation of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) in Kenya, conducted in two districts of Nyanza Province, offers lessons that may be useful to male circumcision programmes in other African countries. The results and lessons learned from a needs assessment of 81 health facilities and an evaluation of the first year of implementation are summarised in an article in the 4 April 2011 issue of the journal PLoS One. The article describes how challenges such as human resource shortages and low participation in HIV testing were addressed through national policy changes, while other challenges, such as large fluctuations in demand for services, were addressed locally.
Male circumcision offers lasting protection
Male circumcision continues to provide significant protection for men from heterosexually acquired HIV infection years after the procedure, said scientists reporting on a study from Rakai, Uganda, at the 18th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. The study followed men who had participated in a randomised controlled trial of male circumcision for more than two years. Eighty percent of the men who had not been circumcised during the trial became circumcised at its conclusion. Among these men and the men circumcised during the trial four years earlier, the risk of HIV infection was reduced by 73 percent compared to the men who had declined to be circumcised at the end of the trial. The study also found no evidence that circumcised men were engaging in riskier behaviour compared to the uncircumcised men (MedPage Today, 28 February 2011).
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