Maputo — The Mozambican government is to expand a programme offering voluntary circumcision to males between the ages of ten and 49. The campaign now has a target of circumcising two million males.
According to the daily newspaper “Noticias”, the campaign is one of the government's main strategies to reduce the risk of people contracting the HIV virus that causes AIDS. Studies have shown that male circumcision cuts the risk of infection by about fifty per cent.
According to Judith Caetano of the Zambezia provincial health directorate, the nationwide campaign will continue until 2017.
Speaking on Wednesday during the opening of a national meeting on the voluntary circumcision programme, Caetano pointed out that the campaign will cover 80 per cent of men.
Since May, the campaign has been running in the districts of Quelimane, Mocuba and Gurue in Zambezia province.
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This is a tragedy. Circumcision will not be "voluntary" when fathers force it on their sons. Many professionals have criticized the studies claiming that circumcision reduces HIV transmission. They have various flaws. The investigators did not seek to determine the source of the HIV infections during their studies. They assumed all infections were heterosexually transmitted. Most HIV infections in Africa are transmitted by contaminated injections and surgical procedures. The absolute rate of HIV transmission reduction is only 1.3%, not the claimed 60%. Authorities that cite the studies have other agendas including political and financial. Research shows that circumcision causes physical, sexual, and psychological harm. This harm is ignored by circumcision advocates. Other methods to prevent HIV transmission (e.g., condoms and sterilizing medical instruments) are much more effective, much cheaper, and much less invasive. Please see http://www.circumcision.org/hiv.htm for more information and links to literature.
From a USAID report: "There appears no clear pattern of association between male circumcision and HIV prevalence—in 8 of 18 countries with data, HIV prevalence is lower among circumcised men, while in the remaining 10 countries it is higher." http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/CR22/CR22.pdf
It seems highly unrealistic to expect that there will be no risk compensation. The South African National Communication Survey on HIV/AIDS, 2009 found that 15% of adults across age groups "believe that circumcised men do not need to use condoms". http://www.info.gov.za/issues/hiv/survey_2009.htm
It is unclear if circumcised men are more likely to infect women. The only ever randomized controlled trial into male-to-female transmission showed a 54% higher rate in the group where the men had been circumcised: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)60998-3/a bstract ABC (Abstinence, Being faithful, and especially Condoms) is the way forward. Promoting genital surgery seems likely to cost African lives rather than save them.
Europeans don't circumcise, South Americans don't circumcise, Australians and New Zealanders used to circumcise but stopped, and most North Americans don't circumcise. Why should Africans circumcise?