Circumcision can control AIDS, but is India ready?

[Guest guest]

Circumcision can control AIDS, but is India ready?

Kounteya Sinha

[24 Feb,2007 0232hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK]

NEW DELHI: India will attend a high-powered meeting of the world's

top AIDS scientists in Montreux, Switzerland, on March 6 to analyse

research data which says circumcision can reduce chances of HIV

transmission among men, and how it can be implemented in national

AIDS control programmes.

However, unwilling to rake up a communal controversy that could harm

India's anti-AIDS programme, Naco director general K Sujatha Rao made

it clear that the country would not undertake any trial to see

whether circumcision actually works.

" It's a sensitive matter. We will not implement it or carry out any

trial. NACO is sending a representative to check the data that will

be analysed by the world's top scientists, " Rao told TOI.

The two-day conference organised jointly by WHO and UNAIDS, and to be

attended by nearly 100 of the world's top scientists, donors,

programme and policy makers and representatives from civil society

follows Friday's revelation that circumcising men reduces their

chances of getting infected with HIV by upto 60%.

The circumcision theory hadn't received much encouragement in India.

Sometime back, when executive director of Geneva-based Global Fund to

fight AIDS, Feachem, made a statement in Paris that he

expected the epidemic to grow faster among Hindus because they didn't

practise circumcision, he received thousands of hate mails from the

Hindu community.

WHO's chief of emerging technologies against AIDS Dr Kim Dickson

said, " Three studies have now said that circumcision works to control

HIV spread. The findings, published in the February 24 issue of The

Lancet, is very exciting.

From March 6-8, we will analyse all research evidence and the data of

the three full-fledged circumcision studies to make recommendations

on whether circumcision can be started in regular anti-AIDS

programmes as a preventive tool and how to deal with the socio-

cultural issues relating to circumcision. "

" Circumcision is, however, not 100% protective. It will be effective

if integrated with other prevention services like condom use, delayed

sex onset and lesser number of sexual partners, " she added.

UNAIDS's chief scientific advisor, Dr Hankins, told TOI from

Geneva, " We will discuss both the policy and programme implications

of circumcision in the conference. "

In a Kenyan study, 1,391 circumcised men were compared to 1,393 who

were not. And in Uganda, 2,474 circumcised men were compared to 2,522

men who were not. Scientists tracked them for two years and found

that those who were circumcised were 51-60% less likely to contract

HIV.

The risks associated with circumcision were minimal with only 1.7% of

the circumcision surgeries resulting in minor complications like

bleeding and mild infection.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/Circumcision_can_control

_AIDS_but_is_India_ready/articleshow/msid-1670374,curpg-2.cms