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More
circumcision needed to control
AIDS in Africa |
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MEXICO
CITY(August 6, 2008) - Governments and health communities
need to ramp up male circumcision to prevent HIV infection, particularly
in vulnerable countries in eastern and southern Africa, researchers
and advocates said on Monday.
Three studies were cut short in 2006 after they showed strong evidence
that male circumcision could prevent HIV infection, but very little
effort has been made to push for more men to go under the knife, they
told a conference on AIDS in Mexico City.
While people were beginning to accept this intervention measure, Joseph
said stigma surrounding it was still strong.
"There is no national male circumcision campaign to promote it
... more education is needed," Joseph said.
The researchers said two studies in Africa showed the procedure did
not reduce sexual pleasure and function, and did not result in any
increase in risk-taking behavior among newly circumcised men.
These two concerns have always surrounded male circumcision, which
some studies indicate could be 70 percent effective in protecting
men against HIV infection during vaginal sex.
"We found that there was no difference between the circumcised
men and uncircumcised men -- that there is no increase in sexual dysfunction
in circumcised men. And in fact, circumcised men did report greater
penile sensitivity after circumcision," said Robert Bailey, an
epidemiologist at the University of Illinois.
The study involved 2,784 men in Kisumu, Kenya, and the group who were
circumcised reported no sexual dysfunction such as premature ejaculation,
pain during intercourse or erectile dysfunction. More details of this
study will be disclosed on Tuesday at the conference.
Bailey was also involved in another study published recently in the
Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE, which showed that circumcision
did not result in any increase in risky sex behavior.
"In the trial, we are providing HIV testing and counseling every
six months, so there's opportunity to follow up, especially counseling
the circumcised men that they are not fully protected, that they still
have to practice safe sex and use condoms," Bailey said. |
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