Circumcision could save millions from HIV/AIDS death
A study coordinated by the World Health Organisation (WHO), with partners in France, the US and South Africa, has concluded that male circumcision (MC) could reduce HIV infection rates by an average of 60 per cent. Over the long term, the team has projected that the circumcision of all African men could save millions of lives. The research builds on data from 2005, which found that MC could reduce the rates of infection from women to men. The current study focused on the impact of widespread MS in sub-Saharan Africa, which is home to the vast majority of HIV/AIDS cases. According to the team's predictions, widespread MC could prevent two million deaths over the coming 10 years, and an increasing number in the future. The study's three main findings are that: - MC increases the proportion of HIV infected women from about 52 per cent to 58 per cent; - where there is homogenous mixing but not all men are circumcised, the rate of infection in circumcised men is 80 per cent of that among uncircumcised men; - MC can be considered to be an intervention, like increased condom use or a vaccine reducing transmission in both directions by 37 per cent. Because circumcision rates vary in Africa, the researchers believe that the greatest effect would be in southern Africa, where rates of infection are very high and rates of circumcision very low. 'In sub-Saharan Africa, estimates of HIV prevalence are significantly associated with the estimated prevalence of MC,' reads the report. 'In South Africa alone, increasing MC coverage has the potential to avert up to 174,000 new infections each year,' it continues. However, 'While the protective benefit to HIV-negative men will be immediate, the full impact of MC on HIV-related illness and death will only be apparent in 10 to 20 years,' reads the report. While the impact of MC could be dramatic, the authors are keen to downplay their research, for practical reasons. 'Our analysis uses a simple, parsimonious model to evaluate the potential impact of MC, and further empirical research is needed to support more detailed models. However, this analysis shows that MC could avert nearly six million new infections and save three million lives in sub-Saharan Africa over the next 20 years,' reads the report. It should also be noted that MC is by no means an absolute protection, merely an increased statistical protection. Also, as MC has been practiced in Africa and other parts of the world for centuries, often with ritualistic significance, there is no standard method for MC. MC is also a protection for men only. 'While MC confers greater direct benefits on men than on women, women benefit indirectly through the reduction in the prevalence of HIV among their male sexual partners,' reads the report. How effective the increased prevalence of MC is will only become apparent in the future - perhaps in a decade. In the meantime, 'The need to keep HIV-positive people alive through the provision of ART [Anti-Retroviral Therapy] remains the most immediate priority while ways are found to reduce transmission using MC and other interventions,' it concludes.
Countries
Switzerland, France, United States, South Africa