South Africa: simultaneously circumcised to fight HIV / AIDS!

A conference on AIDS prevention in South Africa last week called for a series of mass circumcision after studies showed that this would reduce the rate of HIV infection to 60%.

South Africa, the country with the highest number of HIV infected people (5.5 million, accounting for 10.8% of the population) has found a solution: circumcision in bulk. This is the solution given by the South African AIDS organization.

According to Professor Alan Whiteside, Director of Research Department for HIV / AIDS and Medical Economics (HEARD) at KwaZulu-Natal University, all boys born in community hospitals should be circumcised. unless their parents object, and adult men who want to have surgery should also be supported by medical assistance programs.

Neil Martinson, assistant director of the Antenatal HIV Research Division at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, said there is evidence that circumcision is almost as effective as a vaccine. Martinson said circumcision was common in many South African communities and many men and women supported it.

Some people fear that circumcision will lead to risky behaviors(Photo: BBC)

However, some people criticize that circumcision does not solve core issues, is not useful for women, does not prevent the phenomenon of having sex with many partners, and even urging pushing men and women to take risky behaviors because they think circumcision helps them to be immune and do not need to use condoms.

However, according to Mr. Martinson, research shows the opposite. Men who were circumcised were no longer "going around " and " sleeping " again.

Studies done last year have published results that male circumcision reduces HIV infection rates by up to 60%.

Timothy Quinlan, director of research board HEARD, said that this figure is not enough to pay for a mass circumcision program. According to him, scientists expect a figure higher than 50 or 60% to implement such a program. It is acceptable if it is only a voluntary choice of the people, and the budget should be reserved for more effective HIV prevention measures.

Whiteside's point of view is to still carry out circumcision, but the current focus is on how to do it effectively. He said: 'We need communication and positive support is clearly informed.'

The World Health Organization (WHO) has just announced guidelines to encourage circumcision as a potential preventive measure, emphasizing the need for surgery to be performed by officials. Medical training is regulated, with appropriate surgical agreements, and this is only an integral part of a broader HIV prevention campaign.

The opening day of the conference was marked by positive remarks from some of the speakers about progress in South Africa in the fight against HIV / AIDS in South Africa.

For example, Dr. Peter Piot, Head of the United Nations Program on HIV / AIDS (UNAIDS), appreciated the country's outstanding advances in anti-virus treatment and national strategic planning. its. He said that if this plan succeeds, South Africa will be a leader in the new way of preventing AIDS in Africa.

However, he and some others stressed that work is really just the beginning.

Many supporters of male circumcision plans to help African countries prevent AIDS epidemic stemming from two large-scale randomized studies in African Saharan Africa and Uganda published in the Lancet. These studies show that male circumcision reduces HIV infection rates by up to 60%.

Previous studies of disease status that were not performed by random methods have shown that uncircumcised men are at higher risk of HIV infection after intercourse because the foreskin has contains non-keratinized soft tissue and cells prone to viruses.

In short, when circumcision increases the ability of HIV / AIDS prevention in men, this is something that should be encouraged, but there must be many other preventive measures to prevent this epidemic. really the most effective.

Minh Minh

According to Medical News Today, Softpedia News, AIDS Map, BBC, VNN