Posted on 04/27/2006 9:43:31 PM PDT by neverdem
JOHANNESBURG, April 27 — For well over a decade, southern Africans have battled the spread of H.I.V. with everything from condoms and abstinence campaigns to doses of antiretroviral drugs for pregnant women — and yet the epidemic continues unabated.
Now a growing number of clinicians and policy makers in the region are pointing to a simple and possibly potent weapon against new infections: circumcision for men.
Armed with new studies suggesting that male circumcision can reduce the chance of H.I.V. infection in men, and perhaps in women, health workers in two southern African nations are pressing to make circumcisions broadly available to meet what they call a burgeoning demand.
The validity of the approach is still being tested. But in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, surgeons at the University Teaching Hospital began offering circumcisions for about $3 some 18 months ago and are urging the government to expand the service nationwide. Dr. Kasonde Bowa, a urologist at the hospital, says about 400 patients a month request the procedure — eight times as many as the surgeons can accommodate.
"One reason we decided to set up this service was the increasing evidence in the research in relation to reducing H.I.V.," the virus that causes AIDS, he said. "The evidence is very strong."
In Swaziland, the Health Ministry backed a workshop in January to train 60 doctors in circumcision, responding to what it called a surge in demand. Studies indicate that circumcision may protect against H.I.V., the ministry said, adding that the service should be more available.
"I've lost a cousin and an aunt," Nokuthula Sibandze said as she waited nervously with her 16-year-old son and 10-year-old nephew at a Swazi clinic offering free circumcisions in February. "I am trying to do the best for my children, and I have heard that..."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
"Now a growing number of clinicians and policy makers in the region are pointing to a simple and possibly potent weapon against new infections: circumcision for men."
Maybe the docs will frequently slip with the knife and that will really solve the problem....
pass the popcorn.
I think it's BS. Lots of HIV in places where circumcision is common, like the U.S. IT doesn't matter how you slice it if you insist on sticking it where it doesn't belong.
Conclusive proof that HIV is a Jewish conspiracy.
How about zippers?
Nobody's saying circumcision prevents AIDS, it just lowers the risk of HIV transmission by a certain non-negligeable factor. And sorry, you can't compare HIV rates in the US with Southern Africa, where in some places nearly 40% of adults are infected.
BTW, Prager talked about this a while back. He said there was notable resistance to this from the left, on the grounds that circumcision is a religeous ritual. I guess they are more interested in repressing religeon than stopping the spread of AIDS.
Even in metropolitan areas of South Africa medicine men/shamens take older teen males on group retreats for several days when the same knife is used to draw blood from the men as in circumcision as a rite of passage. South Africans know that practice spreads AIDS, too. Let's hope they start sanitizing the knives or they won't grow to be Alte Kakers.
Among the medical beneifts - circumcision is correlated with a lower incidence of cervical cancer in the women with whom they are partners.
You just had to use the word "slice" didn't you.....
Doctor to man: "How did you get that?"
Man to Doctor: "I stick it in beans"
Doc to Man: "Beans? What kind of Beans?"
Man to Doc: "Human Beings"
With apologies to Redd Foxx.
Basic medical service would lower the rate significantly. If San Franciscans had to put up with the medical care available in, say. Kenya, a tenth of the city would be dead within months.
Not only that, but the HIV infection rate in the U.S., where most men are circumcised, is double that of the E.U., where most men are not.
My guess is that if this circumcision experiment has any effect it'll be to increase rates in Africa, as some number of men who get themselves circumcised think they can go out and get laid with impunity....
Stem Cells with Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting, Heart Failure Patient Shows Astonishing Improvement
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Here are the actual numbers.
United States: 293,655,404 population (Jul. 2004 estimate); 888,795 confirmed HIV (cumulative through 2004).
European Union: 457,189,000 (Jan. 2004 estimate); 204,665 confirmed HIV (cumulative through 2004).
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