Comments on: Male circumcision to fight HIV: Could there be a better way?

By: Blaz

Blaz — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:02:56 +0000

Bt as far as im concerned this practice must be done to boys as early as before puberty age,why :at this stage they are not yet sexually active,then by the time they do it(sex) they wanna reduce the risk rather than circumscising men who have deceptively warmed their bodies to the hearts of the world and are already h.i.v+.

By: Hugh7

Hugh7 — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:42:25 +0000

And the figures for Zimbabwe (in 2005) are non-circumcised men 14.2% HIV+ , circumcised men 16.6% HIV+.

By: Hugh7

Hugh7 — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:39:39 +0000

You don’t hae to look to the US or Western Europe, or invoke wild conspiracy theories to be skeptical about circumcision. The HIV rate among non-circumcised Rwandan men is 2.1%, but among circumcised men it is 3.8%, according to USAID: http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/CR22/CR22.pdf So how can circumcising men reduce their HIV rate? Rwanda is only one of 10 countries with more of the circumcised men HIV+, out of 18 countries for which there are figures. This should at least be explained before undertaking mass circumcision campaigns with all their costs, risks and harms. (Many men say their foreskin is their most pleasurable part).

By: Mark Lyndon

Mark Lyndon — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:05:02 +0000

Rwandan men are *more* likely to have HIV if they’ve been circumcised:

2.1% of intact Rwandan men have HIV
3.5% of circumcised Rwandan men have HIV

(figures from measuredhs dot com)

Other countries where circumcised men are *more* likely to be HIV+ are Cameroon, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, and Swaziland. That’s at least six African countries where men are more likely to be HIV+ if they’ve been circumcised, and yet they’re promoting circumcision to prevent HIV. What will it take to stop this madness?

By: Tom Tobin

Tom Tobin — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:14:26 +0000

So what if a circumcision is now painless and bloodless? At the end of the day, you are still missing half the skin, and 60% of the nerves of your genitals. Are you calling this progress?
Think for a moment. If circumcision worked to prevent HIV, wouldn’t Ethiopia, with 100% male circumcision, be AIDS-free? Instead, it has a very high infection rate. The US is mostly circumcised. Again, its HIV infection rate is one of the highest.
A handful of studies by pro-circumcision non-medical doctors advocating circumcision does not make for a sound policy. Groups like yourself jump in, with no understanding, and throw money and resources at it. So, in a few years, we will have a circumcised Africa, and an HIV/AIDS rate as high as ever.
Condoms work. They protect both partners.