No evidence of risk compensation

Three large studies in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya have found no evidence that men who have been circumcised engage in riskier sexual behaviour compared to uncircumcised men, Aidsmap reports. The studies examined self-reported behaviours, including condom use and number of sexual partners, to assess whether men adopted riskier sexual behavior after becoming circumcised. Such “risk compensation” would mitigate or negate the protective effect of male circumcision in reducing HIV infection. In each of the studies, there were no statistically significant differences in the sexual behaviors of circumcised and uncircumcised men. The studies in South Africa and Zimbabwe were presented at the recent Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2017), and the Kenya study was published in the February issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (Aidsmap, 22 February 2017).