Delegates to the 16th International AIDS Conference meeting in Toronto are debating whether to endorse circumcision as a method to fight AIDS.
Although a decision is not expected until at least two more studies are completed, a randomized controlled trial in South Africa was stopped early last year when it found a 60 percent lower risk of HIV infection in the men who had undergone the procedure, The Washington Post reported.
Such an endorsement would be controversial and complex; use of the procedure would require convincing cultures that do not practice circumcision of its benefits, while at the same time warning men not to count on it to protect them. It would also require drawing a clear distinction between that procedure and the misleadingly named "female circumcision," a form of ritual mutilation with no medical benefit, the Post said.
Two more randomized studies of circumcision are underway in Kenya and Uganda, with results expected in 2007 and 2008.
Circumcision is mostly practiced by Jews, Muslims, Americans of all religions, South Koreans, Filipinos, some African tribes and some peoples of the South Pacific, the newspaper said.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
Related stories:
New male circumcision device for HIV prevention studied by NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell
With the recent endorsement by the World Health Organization (WHO) and scientists worldwide of adult male circumcision as an important strategy for HIV prevention, there is increased urgency to develop safe and cost-effective circumcision services. This is especially the case in Africa where HIV/AIDS continues to spread at an epidemic rate.
Major shift in HIV prevention priorities needed
According to a new policy analysis led by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the University of California, Berkeley, the most common HIV prevention strategies—condom promotion, HIV testing, treatment of other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), vaccine and microbicide research, and abstinence—are having a limited impact on the predominantly heterosexual epidemics found in Africa. Furthermore, some of the assumptions underlying such strategies—such as poverty or war being major causes of AIDS in Africa—are unsupported by rigorous scientific evidence.
Africa's first large-scale HIV vaccine study launches
The launch of the first large-scale study to evaluate a candidate HIV vaccine on the African continent was announced today by study collaborators in the United States and South Africa. The trial will involve up to 3,000 participants at five sites throughout South Africa and is expected to continue for four years.
Circumcision for prevention of HIV: new analysis demonstrates cost-effectiveness
A team of researchers who conducted a landmark trial in Orange Farm, South Africa, which concluded that male circumcision can sub stantially reduce the risk of becoming infected with HIV, have now studied the economic aspects of this approach to preventing HIV/AIDS.
Antiretroviral therapy as HIV prevention strategy
The widespread use of highly active antiretroviral therapy may reduce the incidence of HIV in individuals and populations but has been overlooked by public health as a prevention strategy, write Dr. Julio Montaner and colleagues in
Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Theory explains why 25 percent of cultures cut male genitals
Almost 25 percent of indigenous societies practice some form of male genital cutting, ranging from circumcision to the ritual removal of a testicle. The reason, reports a Cornell scientist, may be to reduce pregnancies from extramarital sex. More subtly, it could be to reduce conflict among men.
Lack of political will and the subordination of women are major barriers to tackling AIDS
Denial, myths, complacency, lack of political will and the subordination of women are major obstacles in the fight against HIV and AIDS. And with no cure or vaccine in sight, scaling up prevention is of paramount importance, according to Professor Lars Kallings, a leading expert in the global fight against the world’s first modern pandemic.
Circumcision may not reduce AIDS risk
A study conducted in Africa suggests male circumcision does not reduce the risk of HIV transmission to female partners.