New York City pushes for male circumcision to reduce spread of HIV

Apr 8 2007

Officials in New York City are again at the forefront when it comes to health matters.

New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) is considering adopting a policy encouraging men to become circumcised in an attempt to reduce the city's high HIV numbers.

According to a recently released report by the World Health Organization (WHO) the procedure is an effective way of preventing the spread of the disease.

WHO has recommended countries adopt male circumcision as one of the measures in the fight against the disease following the release of a report on three separate clinical trials in Africa, which revealed that undergoing circumcision slowed down the risk of contracting AIDS by as much as 60 percent in heterosexual men.

The city's health commissioner Thomas Frieden says New York has the highest number of AIDS cases in the country and remains the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic in the United States.

Frieden says in some areas the prevalence rates of HIV equates with parts of Africa.

The health department has apparently already approached a number of community groups and gay rights organizations on the issue and the Health and Hospitals Corporation has been asked to perform the surgery free of charge to individuals without medical insurance.

New York's DHMH would like to raise public awareness of the risks and advantages of male circumcision.

Currently over half of white American males are circumcised while among Hispanics, blacks and males not born in the USA, the percentages are much lower.