This is the most sensible article I’ve read concerning circumcision as an HIV prevention tool. It’s brilliant from start to finish. An excerpt:
All of a sudden a quick and cheap solution to reducing the ravages of AIDS seemed at hand; line up all males, nip off their foreskins, and voila, you have reduced the possibilities of future HIV infections by half!
Among the few voices that expressed caution was that of Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, who said he didn’t think it was that simple. Museveni should know. Uganda, after all, has Africa’s — and one of the developing world’s — best record in reducing HIV infections. In the 1990s, Uganda had among the highest infection rates in Africa of well over 30 percent. In the last eight or so years, it has sliced that down to just under 6 per cent. The awards Museveni has received for this achievement can fill the State House garage.
I don’t know anything about the science of this study to fault or laud it. But its politics are very troubling.
Read the whole thing. It’s worth your time.