Circumcision Shown to Cut AIDS Rate in South Africa

The simple – but kinda painful – procedure trimmed new HIV cases in a South African city by 76 per cent.

A study released today at the international AIDS forum in Rome concludes that circumcision has proven to be a remarkably effective measure in curbing the spread of the deadly HIV virus. Researchers examined a public health campaign encouraging men to get circumcised in a South African city and found that the number of new cases in the town had fallen by 76 per cent. The study adds further evidence to the theory that the removal of men's foreskin helps prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections. Circumcision campaigns have sprung up throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa in recent years as a cheap and apparently effective measure against a virus for which there is no cure. Just this past week, Swaziland's King Mswati III urged all men in the tiny country, home to world's highest rate of HIV/AIDS, to undergo the procedure.