UNAIDS chief urges circumcision in southern Africa
Source: Reuters
(Updates throughout with quotes, context) By Kamil Zaheer NEW DELHI, Dec 19 (Reuters) - AIDS-stricken southern African countries should develop a policy of mass male circumcision to fight the disease, the head of the United Nations anti-AIDS agency said on Tuesday. Several medical studies have reported that circumcision reduces the risk of HIV infection among men by between 50 and 60 percent, and the findings have been backed by UNAIDS. "These (African) countries should now prepare how to introduce circumcision on a large scale," UNAIDS executive director Peter Piot told Reuters. "The science is clear." The focus should be on baby boys first, then adolescent boys and adult men, said Piot, who is in New Delhi to meet Indian officials to discuss how they plan to tackle the world's largest HIV/AIDS caseload of 5.7 million people. The U.N. agency is planning to come out with guidelines on how to carry out safe circumcisions on a mass scale. In 2005, UNAIDS said more research was needed into the possible benefits of circumcision before it could be promoted as part of national HIV programmes. One U.S.-Ugandan study found male circumcision also reduced infections in female partners by 30 percent. Muslim and Jewish men are circumcised in accordance with religious beliefs, and Piot said UNAIDS understood advocating mass circumcision was a religiously and culturally sensitive issue for many people. GRIM SITUATION "Changing that is touching very much on the core of values. That is going to make it more complicated than any other medical issue that I can think of," he told Reuters. However, he said that given the grim HIV situation in southern Africa, it was important to promote the idea of widespread circumcision. "We are faced with an absolute crisis where you have 20-40 percent of adults being HIV-positive...you need to use every scientifically proven method to bring down the new infections." South Africa, Botswana and Namibia are among the worst affected countries in the region, while Swaziland has an infection rate of about 50 percent, UNAIDS says. Piot said that, even if large-scale circumcision were introduced, countries should continue to promote the use of condoms and concentrate on reducing the number of sexual partners. He also said that mass circumcision could result in a false sense of security. "People shouldn't say: "OK, I am circumcised now, I can go for it"." Piot said UNAIDS had no plans to promote the idea of circumcision in India where the issue is sensitive for the Hindu and Muslim communities. The UNAIDS chief called for better monitoring and control of how private doctors in India prescribed HIV medicines. "It is a recipe for a massive resistance (to HIV) epidemic," he told reporters in a separate briefing.
| AlertNet news is provided by |  |
