The Role of Circumcision Culture in HIV prevention in Sub-Saharan Africa
It has been proven that the male circumcision which implemented in Zambia minimized the risk of HIV infection among men in the Sub-Saharan African region. These findings were stem from the implementation of circumcision by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization (WHO) in the region. Since the decision was made, the health record has shown that there has been increasing number of 700 men who voluntarily requested to be circumcised. And, the number has been getting bigger and bigger. This phenomenon has been become prevalent in the African region when the health agencies announced that circumcision is the most effective way of preventing HIV infection from heterosexual intercourse. These two international agencies recently announced that 6 million new cases of HIV infections, as well as 3 million deaths caused by HIV infections could be prevented among men if they would submit themselves to voluntary circumcision procedure program. However, many men in the country who never experienced to be circumcised have doubt in mind over the procedure. Well, according to the medical expert, male circumcision just a minor removal of the foreskin that covers the head of the penis. And, this procedure can be done at any age of men, during infancy, childhood, adolescence or adulthood. The circumcision procedure has been a wide-spread culture among several countries in the world for hundreds of years now. In some cultures, it is more often a trademark of men that they belong to a particular tribal or religious group in the society. (http://www.avert.org/circumcision-hiv.htm)
Furthermore, since 1980s, scientists have assumed that male circumcision might trim down the rates of HIV infection transmission during sexual activities. They also observed that circumcised men are less likely to have HIV than uncircumcised men, and HIV is rare among populations that traditionally practice male circumcision than in communities where the procedure is not being practiced. Just take the case of North Western region of Zambia, where HIV cases are less likely common because circumcision has been done traditionally compared to the Northern province in Zambia, where circumcision among men is not done culturally. In this connection, the health international agencies have decided to settle the HIV issue through three sets of trials in Sub-Saharan African region. They implement a circumcision program that attended by more than 11,000 not circumcised men. All men circumcised under the program received extensive counseling about HIV prevention and the possible risk reduction strategies to avoid it to happen to them. Same circumcision program was held both in Kenya and Uganda. It was shown a clear evidence that circumcision reduces the risk of HIV infection. Remarkable record of men participation from three different regions in Africa is represented by the table below:
Location
Participants
Report published
South Africa
3,274
July 2005
Kenya
2,784
February 2007
Uganda
4,996
February 2007
These findings therefore conclude that circumcision among men can really help in addressing the prominent problem in the world today on HIV cases. As long as it is performed with medical guidelines, it is most likely to prevent the causes of HIV infections among men. Moreover, several possible reasons are associated with male circumcision for the HIV prevention, first, the foreskin of the penis is susceptible of HIV moist, and has the potential that the HIV infection cells may spread to the other delicate parts of the penis down to the inner surface of the male organ. As this regard, a particular study was conducted among men in Ugandan before and after circumcision program, the doctors concluded a decrease in anaerobic bacteria that play a major role in reducing the risk of HIV acquisition by men. The most important fact is that the removal of the foreskin helps the head of the penis to have a strong resistance against virus infection; if this is not prevented, the transmitted virus infection will eventually penetrates inside the body of the victim. And, that will start to weaken the immune system of the person.
(http://www.avert.org/circumcision-hiv.htm)
On the other hand, there was a certain study about the effect of circumcision on male-to-male sexual HIV transmission. A research which was done in Australia has found that circumcision goes also with a remarkable reduction of HIV incidents among men who have sexual contacts with the same sex through anal intercourse. Another circumcision study made in Peru and the United States of America concluded that there had no effectiveness benefit of the circumcision to the male-to-male sexual HIV transmission. Nevertheless, circumcision might reduce the risk of those who are doing the insertive role during sexual activities. (http://www.avert.org/circumcision-hiv.htm)
References:
http://www.avert.org/circumcision-hiv.htm
http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/HIV/vincenzi/
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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