Uganda pilots infant male circumcision

Uganda’s health ministry plans to promote circumcision of newborn male infants after studies showed that the procedure can be performed safely in the country’s resource-limited settings, Uganda Radio Network (URN) reports. Researchers from the Rakai Health Sciences Program, the Uganda Virus Research Institute and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health had successfully tested the acceptability of the Mogen clamp, a device for carrying out early infant male circumcision (EIMC), in a clinical trial involving more than 500 Uganda infants. The coordinator of Uganda’s Safe Male Circumcision Program is quoted as saying that EIMC should be available throughout the country within two years. URN reports that EMIC is seen as a cost-effective way to achieve a high level of coverage once Uganda meets its goal of circumcising 4.2 million men to help prevent the spread of HIV (Uganda Radio Network, 14 May 2016).