How mHealth is Supporting Medical Male Circumcision
By PSIHealthyLivesThe following post originally appeared on the Text to Change blog to mark World AIDS Day in December. Male circumcision can reduce chances of HIV infection by up to 60%. A one-time medical procedure, VMMC (Voluntarily Medical Male Circumcision) provides life-long partial protection against HIV as well as other sexually transmitted infections. That’s why we want to address these important facts today.
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How mHealth is Supporting Medical Male Circumcision
Posted by PSIHealthyLives
on Jan 15 2013. Filed under HIV/AIDS, Hub Selects, mHealth.
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“up to 60% reduction” sounds a lot, but these are the facts. In three trials, they circumcised a total of 5,400 men, and left another group to wait. After less than two years, 64 of the circumcised group had HIV, and 137 of the other group. Since there are various differences in the way the groups were treated, we can’t be sure that circumcision is the reason for the difference. Several times as many men dropped out of the trials, their HIV status unknown. Since getting HIV after a painful and marking operation to prevent it would be a good reason to drop out, there may be no real difference at all. Another trial started to show that circumcising men could INcrease the HIV risk to women, but they cut that trial short before the finding could be confirmed. In 10 out of 18 countries for which USAID has figures, more of the circumcised men have HIV than the non-circumcised. That needs to be explained before pressing on with mass circumcision.