|Male Circumcision and HIV Prevention| Recent research suggests
that male circumcision may be a cost-effective means of reducing
HIV infection rates, especially in generalized epidemics where
more than one percent of the population is living with HIV/AIDS.
In December 2006, the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
released findings from two studies measuring the effects of male
circumcision in reducing the risk of HIV transmission among men
who have heterosexual intercourse. The studies, which examined
nearly 8,000 men ages 18-24 in Kisumu, Kenya and Rakai, Uganda,
found that male circumcision reduced men's risk of contracting
HIV from vaginal intercourse by as much as 53 percent. These
studies corroborated findings from an earlier study in South
Africa, which reported reductions as high as 60 percent. New
research raises questions as to whether male circumcision
provides any protection to female partners, and early results
from a trial of newly circumcised men indicate that HIV-negative
female partners may ha