Male Circumcision is Not the HIV ‘Vaccine’ We Have Been Waiting For!

Voluntary medical adult male circumcision for HIV prevention in South Africa: The tensions between medicalised modernity and traditional practices

“…This finding, however; is not entirely conclusive (De Vincenzi & Mertens, 1994;Van Howe, 1999;Boyle & Hill, 2011;Van Howe & Storms, 2011). Some report that the claim that VMAMC prevents HIV can only be made for men who engage in particularly high-risk sexual practices and not men in the general global population (Green et al, 2008;Morris et al, 2012). Others have also indicated that such claims are based on flawed research methodologies that attribute causality to human anatomy rather than the complex factors that guide sexual behaviour for vulnerability to HIV infection (Van Howe et al, 2000;Dowsett & Couch, 2007).…”

‘Not men enough to rule!’: politicization of ethnicities and forcible circumcision of Luo men during the postelection violence in Kenya

“…It is believed that the removal of the foreskin makes the remaining outer layer of skin tougher for HIV to penetrate (Rosen 2007), although there are conflicting views about the role of Langerhans cells in HIV transmission. Green et al (2008) have argued that Langerhans cells in the foreskin have a protective effect against pathogens while Klausner et al (2008) argue on the contrary that the langerhans cells are, uniquely vulnerable to HIV. It is also argued that circumcision makes it easier to keep the end of the penis clean, which may be significant, given that the areas where male circumcision is being promoted have poor sanitation and lack adequate water to maintain cleanliness.…”

“…Doubts have been expressed regarding the long-term effect of male circumcision as a strategy for the prevention of HIV transmission, arguing that the studies on which the strategy is based were not conclusive (Green et al 2008). The studies were terminated early and thus had short duration of experimental conditions and perhaps insufficient data for real-world settings.…”

“…The studies were terminated early and thus had short duration of experimental conditions and perhaps insufficient data for real-world settings. Green et al (2008), moreover, argue that there is no guarantee that men will abstain from sex before the circumcision wound heals, thereby facilitate HIV transmission. This in turn could reinforce the prevailing tendency to blame women as the carriers of HIV (Green et al 2008), since the health discourse creates the impression that male circumcision is a secure form of HIV prevention .…”

Medicaid Coverage of Circumcision Spreads Harm to the Poor

“…In doing so, they ignore both contradictory evidence and the fact that the trial circumstances are not generalizable to Africa, let alone America. 9 Even if male circumcision were somewhat effective in reducing HIV infection among heterosexual adults in certain areas of high HIV prevalence, the leap to recommending population-wide neonatal circumcision in the United States is still unjustifiable.…”