News & Events

Malawi’s voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) programme has shifted its focus, guided by modeling results estimating greater impact and potential savings of $US 344 million, Pacific Standard reports. The study recommends emphasizing recruitment of men and boys ages... more

The results of a randomised controlled trial, published in BJU International, show that early infant male circumcision (EIMC) can be performed safely in rural Uganda, Medical Xpress reports. In the trial, 256 male infants were circumcised by clinical officers and 245 were circumcised by registered nurse midwives at four rural health centres. The rates of complications were low, at 2.4... more

Members of the Shangani ethnic group in Zimbabwe are increasingly embracing modern methods of male circumcision, TellZim News reports. The Shangani and Lemba cultures are the only groups with a history of male circumcision in Zimbabwe, but until recently they have resisted government attempts to improve the practice. A shift in that stance was apparent during the Shangani graduation... more

The number of men opting to become circumcised was one of the few indicators of progress against HIV that did not show substantial gains in Uganda in the past year, New Vision reports. A new report covering July 2015 to June 2016 shows that the number of Ugandans who became infected with HIV dropped to 83,000, down from 95,000 in the previous 12 months. HIV infections among... more

Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) is part of a male-mentoring programme in Swaziland that seeks to change dangerous expectations about masculinity, Al Jazeera reports. The director of the programme, which is called Kwakha Indvodza (Building a Man), notes that the widespread belief that a man should be strong, solitary, and authoritative makes men less likely to seek... more

The 10 articles featured in this collection, published in Global Health: Science and Practice, offer insights on the introduction of early infant male... more

A collection of 17 articles presents the results of studies on the introduction of the PrePex device and the ShangRing conducted in eight countries. Published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes,... more

The medical male circumcisions (MMCs) performed in South Africa from 2008 to 2015 will avert 218,000 HIV infections and save more than US $790 million in treatment costs by 2030, health officials from South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland write in a ... more

Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates urged African countries to emulate Kenya’s successful voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) programme in Nyanza to reduce HIV infections, an article in The Star (Nairobi) reports.... more

This decade could be the beginning of the end of the HIV epidemic, but not without more support for HIV prevention, write Peter Piot of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Mitchell Warren of AVAC in a... more

A study reveals that two prevention strategies — voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) and antiretroviral therapy (ART) — helped reduce the number of new HIV infections in Rakai, Uganda, reports an article in the Daily Mail... more

Expressing concern about decreases in both funding for voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) and the annual number of men circumcised, presenters at a session on VMMC at the International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2016) emphasised that continued uptake of the procedure is essential to reaching a 75 percent reduction in new HIV infections by 2020, as well as sustained control of the pandemic.... more

Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) for HIV prevention was highlighted in eight sessions, one oral abstract presentation, and 64 posters at the 21st International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2016) in Durban, South Africa, from 18 to 22 July.Three satellite sessions on the first day of the conference featured presentations and discussions about VMMC: one on VMMC as an entry point for other... more

In an effort to fight against HIV, men in Kenya’s Nyanza Province are embracing a cultural practice that was foreign to their forefathers, reports an article on The Global Fund website. Since 2008, more than 1 million men and boys have become circumcised – most of them in Nyanza – through the National AIDS... more

Fifteen taxi drivers in Lesotho’s capital have been educating their passengers about voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) for HIV prevention as part of a pilot programme that began in April, Newsweek reports. When a passenger expresses interest, the driver gives him a referral card for a consultation at a clinic offering free VMMC services. The drivers receive monthly fuel... more