Rwanda working to meet 2013 goal to medically circumcise 50% of men for HIV prevention

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Jan 11 2012

Rwanda is expanding its medical male circumcision program this year, "as the country attempts to reach its goal of medically circumcising 50 percent of men by June 2013 as part of HIV prevention efforts," PlusNews reports. "The free male circumcision program began in October 2011, and officials at the Ministry of Health say demand is growing," according to the news service. However, with only 15 percent of men circumcised and a shortage of qualified health care workers, "the goal is unlikely to be met unless lower cadre health workers are involved in the campaign," PlusNews writes.

"The government is hoping for WHO approval of a device known as the 'PrePex system,' which delivers 'bloodless' male circumcision and would reduce the need for a sterile environment, anesthetic, and highly trained medical personnel," the news service writes, noting a public education campaign on circumcision is helping to dispel myths about the procedure (1/9).

This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

Posted in: Men's Health News | Disease/Infection News

Tags: Circumcision, Education, Health Care, HIV, HIV/AIDS, HIV-1, Research

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ABC, not circumcision

Mark Lyndon says:

January 11, 2012 at 1:38 PM

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+ include 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?

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ever think this through?

Tom Tobin says:

January 11, 2012 at 4:19 PM

Does it ever occur to anyone, to see if any of these 'universal circumcision' programs actually work?
It seems that PlusNews, UNIAIDS, and the WHO are totally obsessed with circumcision.  They don't even think of it as surgery anymore, it is euphemistically called "voluntary medical male circumcision".  Everyone is falling all over themselves over the latest circumcision device, today it's "The PrePex system".
These are boys playing with the latest transformer.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, Ethiopia has close to 100% male circumcision.  Is their HIV infection rate approaching zero?  No, it's at a high 02.10 percent of the adult population.
Even the utterly fantastic, too good to be true figure of a 60% reduction, well, if your seat belt worked 60% of the time, would that be a good thing?  Circumcision is false hope, impersonating a quick fix.
Perhaps the money, time and effort would be better spent on something which actually prevented HIV infection?
That would be condoms, and education, and changing prevalent attitudes.

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circumcision isn't a medical practice

Tom Tobin says:

January 11, 2012 at 8:07 PM

Why is it that no one else believes that circumcision prevents HIV?  Not a single country has a medical organization which recommends circumcision on medical grounds.
In Malawi, the circumcision rate is increasing faster among circumcised men, than among men with foreskins.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=88790

In Ethiopia, nearly 100% of the men are circumcised.  They still have a very high HIV infection rate, more than 2%.  The US is high, and 80% of adult men are circumcised.
It simply can't be relied upon to prevent HIV.
A condom can.  It protects both partners.

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