Male circumcision is said to be a preventive measure against the spread of the Human immunodeficiency virus or HIV. This microbe is responsible for the highly risky and deadly disease: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS.
Among the US military, male circumcision is the strongly reiterated among its troops especially those deployed in Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
US global AIDS Coordinator, Eric Goosby said that “male circumcision is a highly significant, lifetime intervention.”
Researches revealed that through circumcision it can dramatically and significantly reduced HIV infections. In South Africa for example, in 2011, after a circumcision program in one of its town almost ¾ percent of the sexually transmitted diseases fell. There are theories that the virus normally stays on the foreskin, therefore upon intercourse the chances of transmitting the virus is greater even if a person wears a condom.
However, there were also studies that rebut this correlation (between circumcision and HIV infection). In Uganda for example, 922 HIV infected men are circumcised yet the HIV infected population is greater. This could be attributed to the unhealed wounds or the improper observance of hygiene.
Nonetheless, circumcision still remains to be a cultural practice for most.
