Male Circumcision and HIV Prevention

Green, Lawrence W.; Travis, John W.; McAllister, Ryan; Peterson, Kent W.; Vardanyan, Astrik N.; Craig, Amber

doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2010.07.010

Cited by 36 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In low prevalence settings it has been argued that MC is a waste of money as it will have little impact on HIV [142-144]. This may not be true, however, as shown by CDC calculations that found infant MC to be cost-saving for future HIV prevention in Black and Hispanic males in the USA, although not in non-Hispanic White males, perhaps because the latter have the highest MC rates and much lower HIV prevalence [133].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 'snip' in time: what is the best age to circumcise?

Waskett²,

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Circumcision is a common procedure, but regional and societal attitudes differ on whether there is a need for a male to be circumcised and, if so, at what age. This is an important issue for many parents, but also pediatricians, other doctors, policy makers, public health authorities, medical bodies, and males themselves. Discussion We show here that infancy is an optimal time for clinical circumcision because an infant's low mobility facilitates the use of local anesthesia, sutures are not required, healing is quick, cosmetic outcome is usually excellent, costs are minimal, and complications are uncommon. The benefits of infant circumcision include prevention of urinary tract infections (a cause of renal scarring), reduction in risk of inflammatory foreskin conditions such as balanoposthitis, foreskin injuries, phimosis and paraphimosis. When the boy later becomes sexually active he has substantial protection against risk of HIV and other viral sexually transmitted infections such as genital herpes and oncogenic human papillomavirus, as well as penile cancer. The risk of cervical cancer in his female partner(s) is also reduced. Circumcision in adolescence or adulthood may evoke a fear of pain, penile damage or reduced sexual pleasure, even though unfounded. Time off work or school will be needed, cost is much greater, as are risks of complications, healing is slower, and stitches or tissue glue must be used. Summary Infant circumcision is safe, simple, convenient and cost-effective. The available evidence strongly supports infancy as the optimal time for circumcision.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 'snip' in time: what is the best age to circumcise?

Waskett²,

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Concerns with the promotion of MC to lower a man's risk of HIV and other STIs include questionable validity of the RCTs on which the intervention is based, risk compensation, condom avoidance, sexual dysfunction and false perceptions of immunity from HIV and STI's following circumcision, which may increase male-to-female transmission (Auvert et al, 2005;Bridges, Selck, Gray, McIntyre, & Martinson, 2011;Frisch et al, 2011;Green et al, 2010). There is a chance of increased risky sexual behaviour following VMMC due to misconceptions around the extent to which circumcision protects against HIV (Auvert et al, 2005).…”

Section: Behavioural Adaptation and The Potential For Risk Compensationmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Given that multiple factors influence uptake of VMMC, it is imperative to identify local barriers within a broader sociopolitical context. Furthermore, concerns surrounding the scaling up of VMMC services such as risk compensation, questionable external validity of the RCTs on which the intervention is based and issues related to cost-effectiveness raise ethical concerns about the appropriateness of the WHO-driven intervention compared to the controlled trials (de Lange, 2013;Green et al, 2010;McAllister, Travis, Bollinger, Rutiser, & Sundar, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions and knowledge of voluntary medical male circumcision for HIV prevention in traditionally non-circumcising communities in South Africa

Hoffman

Arendse

Larbi

et al. 2015

Global Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) has been recommended for the prevention of HIV transmission, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Uptake of the campaign has been relatively poor, particularly in traditionally non-circumcising regions. This study evaluates the knowledge, attitudes and practices of medical male circumcision (MC) of 104 community members exposed to promotional campaigns for VMMC for five years. Results show that 93% of participants have heard of circumcision and 72% have heard of some health benefit from the practice. However, detailed knowledge of the relationship with HIV infection is lacking: 12.2% mistakenly believed you could not get HIV after being circumcised, while 75.5% believe that a circumcised man is still susceptible and another 12.2% do not know of any relationship between HIV and MC. There are significant barriers to the uptake of the practice, including misperceptions and fear of complications commonly attributed to traditional, non-medical circumcision. However, 88.8% of participants believe circumcision is an acceptable practice, and community-specific promotional campaigns may increase uptake of the service.

show abstract

“…(p. 775) Although various academics have expressed concerns about the wisdom of introducing male circumcision as a HIV prevention tool (e.g., Aggleton, 2007;Berer, 2007;Dowsett & Crouch, 2007;Fox & Thomson, 2010;Green, McAllister, Peterson, & Travis, 2008;Green et al, 2010), the most vocal and sustained criticisms have come from anti-circumcision advocates (e.g., Boyle & Hill, 2011;Van Howe, Svoboda, & Hodges, 2005;Van Howe & Storms, 2011). In many respects, it was inevitable that the relationship between male circumcision and HIV transmission would become embroiled in this much larger and long-standing debate about medical and religious male circumcision.…”

Section: Debating the Evidencementioning

confidence: 98%

HIV prevention: Making male circumcision the ‘right’ tool for the job

Bell

2014

Global Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In recent years, HIV/AIDS programming has been transformed by an ostensibly 'new' procedure: male circumcision. This article examines the rise of male circumcision as the 'right' HIV prevention tool. Treating this controversial topic as a 'matter of concern' rather than a 'matter of fact', I examine the reasons why male circumcision came to be seen as a partial solution to the problem of HIV transmission in the twenty-first century and to what effect. Grounded in a close reading of the primary literature, I suggest that the embrace of male circumcision in HIV prevention must be understood in relation to three factors: (1) the rise of evidence-based medicine as the dominant paradigm for conceptualising medical knowledge, (2) the fraught politics of HIV/AIDS research and funding, which made the possibility of a biomedical intervention attractive and (3) underlying assumptions about the nature of African 'culture' and 'sexuality'. I conclude by stressing the need to expand the parameters of the debate beyond the current polarised landscape, which presents us with a problematic either/or scenario regarding the efficacy of male circumcision.

show abstract

Male Circumcision and HIV Prevention

Cited by 36 publications

References 30 publications

A 'snip' in time: what is the best age to circumcise?

A 'snip' in time: what is the best age to circumcise?

Perceptions and knowledge of voluntary medical male circumcision for HIV prevention in traditionally non-circumcising communities in South Africa

HIV prevention: Making male circumcision the ‘right’ tool for the job

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About