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A French research team reported that follow-up studies
conducted in South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda have confirmed the effectiveness
of male circumcision in preventing HIV transmission. In 2006, French researcher
Bertran Auvert first published research indicating that foreskin removal could
reduce HIV risk among men by approximately 50 percent. A subsequent male
circumcision campaign ensued in sub-Saharan Africa, where 69 percent of the
world’s HIV infections have occurred, according to UNAIDS.
Auvert’s team returned to South Africa’s Orange Farm
township, site of the original research, to conduct a follow-up study of more
than 3,300 male volunteers. The study collected information about sexual
behavior and asked the study participants to take an HIV test. Data collected
for the study indicated that multiple partners and condom use were similar
among men who were circumcised and those who were not, but circumcised men were
57–61 percent less likely to have HIV. The study estimated that without male
circumcision, HIV prevalence would have been 19 percent higher in the
community.
Experts theorized that HIV more easily penetrated the inner
foreskin of uncircumcised men because it was rich in Langerhans cells, which
the virus readily entered. Auvert’s research did not address whether women
would benefit indirectly from lower HIV incidence among men.
UNAIDS, the World Health Organization, the Gates Foundation,
and other donors have endorsed the expansion of adult male circumcision
programs, which could reduce HIV transmission in areas like sub-Saharan Africa
where most men were not circumcised.
The full report, “Association of the ANRS-12126 Male
Circumcision Project with HIV Levels Among Men in a South African Township:
Evaluation of Effectiveness Using Cross-sectional Surveys,” was published
online in the journal PLoS Medicine (2013; doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001509).
