VMMC remains highly cost-effective

Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) will continue to be a highly cost-effective HIV prevention measure for at least the next five years, a modelling study published in The Lancet Global Health has found. The study used five mathematical models to assess VMMC’s impact on HIV incidence and health care costs, focusing on the VMMC priority countries of Malawi, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. The results varied by country but showed that VMMC remains cost-effective and even cost saving in nearly all the settings and epidemic scenarios considered. These findings support the need to intensify efforts to scale up and sustain VMMC services in priority countries (UNAIDS, 27 September 2023).