Circumcision May Help Protect Against HIV – washingtonpost.com
Getting circumcised may reduce men’s risk of acquiring HIV, according to a study conducted in Africa. “Our study shows that circumcised men had 53 percent fewer HIV infections than uncircumcised men,” lead study author Robert Bailey, professor of epidemiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), said in a prepared statement.
This study, published in The Lancet (registration and kidney donation required!) adds to the growing body of research suggesting that circumcision significantly reduces the incidence of HIV infection. The doubts on circumcision as a protective factor against HIV are falling away.
But, is this a viable public health strategy? In context, the US health and human services reports an 85% reduction in HIV risk through condom usage. This is probably a conservative estimate. There’s no indication yet that the gains from circumcision and condom use together are multiplicative.
Let’s look at India, for instance. Circumcision is not practiced among Hindus. There is no history of circumcision, and when I was growing up, it was clear that circumcision was for Muslims and Muslims only. It was often laughed about and there was a sense of superiority about not having to mutilate. It was a clear distinction setting difference between “us” and “them”. This article by Jaishanker and Haldar provides some perspective on Hindu-Muslim identities.
Apart from that, the other important identity of Muslim males is circumcision. It is found in many riots that Muslims were victimized based on their religious identity. In the riots if the perpetrators or the police are not able to identify victims with their religion they forcefully remove the pants of the victims to check whether they are circumcised or not. Once they find that the victim is circumcised he is targeted without further analysing which community he belongs to.
For example in Bombay riot (1992) there is a case of man who was frisked by the police for assessing whether he was a Muslim. However, out of fear he gave his name as Raju (a Hindu name) the officer made him take out his trousers and, noticed that he was a circumcised Muslim, and fired at him.
No Hindu parent in their right mind would circumcise their male child. It’s that simple. It’s part of the ingrained Hindu psyche that having an uncut member sets us apart from our Muslim brethren.
Nothing has changed about AIDS prevention strategies. But it’s boring to study the same variables all the time, let’s recap them one more time, shall we!
Education and awareness: Look at this picture from India (from the NFHS Survey):
Now tell me that increasing awareness among women and empowering them is not the most important thing you can do!
Condom use = 85% risk reduction
Nothing more to say. Continuing to improve access to condoms is important. Avert indicates that condom use is very state dependent, especially among sex workers, with Tamil Nadu having an 80-90% use rate and Mysore in neighboring Karnataka having a 9% use rate.
Access to antiviral therapy
India is in a lucky position here with a very well established pharmaceutical industry. So, drugs are likely to be available (patent issues notwithstanding). The issue however is with infrastructure, getting the drugs to the right people at the right time. This 2004 paper from the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics indicates that coverage is spotty at best. India’s National AIDs Control Organization (NACO) recognizes this, but in my opinion does not go far enough to provide free/affordable drugs to infected people, especially to prevent mother-child transmission.
So, to cut a long story short, circumcision in India is not likely to be a factor in the pantheon of choices available. We have a long way to go with our other major AIDS prevention challenges, and I hope this circumcision issue does not become an increasing distraction.
I hope circumcision will become an increasing solution for the extremely serious AIDS problem that India has.
Nice piece on circumcision, HIV and India: I stumbled upon it today AFTER writing something on the issue on my own blog (I am a bioethicist with an interest in the use of circumcision as HIV prevention strategy). And I live in Chapel Hill!
Stuart:
Thanks, and nice article on your part.
“The foreskin has geopolitical significance”
That’s funny and has all kinds of visualization potential! My concern is that this particular debate is too toxic to be touched in India right now, and it detracts from all the other major infrastructure building India has to do to combat the epidemic. I do not want AIDS prevention efforts to be derailed by the circumcision debate. Believe me, words don’t adequately describe how most Hindus feel about this. It is almost like making one eat beef!
[...] HIV infections because their men do not get circumcised, his inbox was inundated by hate mail. An interesting post on the Olive Ridley Crawl shows some of the passion the debate raises, and the issue is inseparable from the larger [...]
i think female doc or nurse should not perform in circumcision.in ind there have many muslims.n there hav enough lady doctors who can perform circumcise.max r hindus.so it should be avoideded by muslims to go hindu lady docs
right said by amin.
khatna zaroori hai or bharat me bhi ise lagoo hona chahiye agar aids se bachna hai to
APNI MAA YA BEHEN KIYE THE KYA BHODRI KAY,MADHARCHOD…………….
hindu log bina wajah khatna se dar rahe hai khatna ke baad penis kafi achcha dikta hai aur mahilao ko khatna purush zyada pasand haote hai ye mai ek sarve ke baad keh raha hoo
khatna ek bahut hi saral surjery hai or 5 ya 6 din baad zakhm bhar jata hai or zindagi bhar ke lie life aids se siqure ho jati hai to friends be circumsied and save your life , just like me
khatna ke baad ling pehle se jada behtar ho jata hai kyunki bina khatna ling ke niche jo bandh hota hai usse bahut dikkato ka samna karna padta hai meri girl friend mujhe ab pehle se jada pasand karti hai
pata nahi bharat me hi kyu log khatna ke fayde nahi jaante america jaise desh me to har aadmi khatna hai , bina khatna ke waha majaak udaya jata hai
i think circumcision should be must for every man in india, it is the best option fo decrees the rate of hiv aids, and it solved all penis problen
i dont understand , why are indian not being circumcision they are accepting h.i.v but not circumcision
India should adopt infant circumcision at the time of birth for Boys. This will help to fight against HIV.
what a bunch of idiots..blurting some nonsense ….”india should adopt infant circumcision for boys”.
Indian Govt must adopt infant circumcision for boys to curbe HIV and it must be encourage by religious leaders of Hinduism.
Otherwise unwantedly accepting hiv and dying is not a good thing.
khatna har boy ka hona chahiye kyunki dheeli , latki hui skin achchi nahi lagti
saloni right.kismat ke badqismati jo aik bar how khatana…jo bar bar hota to kitna nokdar hota
I believe in science than any religion and i wont circumcise my son just to be different from Muslims. There are many advantages of keeping the skin intact our bodies have evolved many millions of years to be what we are and its just the way nature made us. As far Aids and STD’s are concerned just practise safe sex that will provide you 90% immunity .Even if i was circumscised i wont have risky sex the risk chances are far too great.Remember that the % is for only one intercourse. If a circumscised man has two intercourses then then he is equally probable to get Aids
The topic is quite trendy on the Internet right now. What do you pay the most attention to when choosing what to write ?
[...] and AIDS - Revisited Posted by oliveridley under Environment No Comments A post I wrote quite a while back on circumcision and AIDS remains my most commented post ever. In it (if you’re too lazy to [...]
mai
Mai ek Hindu larki hu maine ek muslim larke se shadi ki hai jub maine usko dekha to uska ling different laga maine poocha to usne subkutch bataya SUTCH ME LING KHATNE KE BAAD BAHUT SUNDER HO JATA HAI.Aur oral sex me bahut anand aata hai, parantu ye prakiriya me kast bahut hota hai.
I want more information about Circumcision(Khatnay) in Indian Muslim women?