Ugandan males in pre-op waiting to get circumcised!
To help reduce the risk of contracting HIV, Godfrey Kigozi of the Rakai health center in Uganda is promoting ... circumcision! And he's even got a song to encourage men (both boys and adults) to get circumcised:
Isaak Simba and his band mates call themselves the Circ Squad. Simba says they all got circumcised last summer and they wrote this song to answer some common questions.
"Everyone asks you the question, so doesn't it hurt, so what, I have to put on a dress, and the thing is, everything is in the song. If you take your time, and listen carefully, you'll get everything there, because we advise you accordingly (heh heh)"
"It can be painless, harmless, and brother you know what? You can be right back at your job, with your pants on like you ...., but best of all, you don't need a sick holiday....
Link - Thanks Tiffany!
Don't confuse them with the facts.
The 60% protection rate beats out any of the hopeful predictions for an AIDS vaccine, which is still 7-10 years away, after the last batch of vaccines failed.
Sure, condoms are a much better prevention strategy (particularly when circumcision doesn't affect transmission - so they can still pass it on), but snipping off the foreskin could be the kindest cut in an epidemic that is absolutely destroying Africa, particularly when we've just seen dramatic horrific failures in the trials of microbicides based on nonoxynol-9 (ie. a vaginal jelly shield) and the most recent batch of vaccines.
While scientists are working on new strategies, circumcision in the meantime could well help save the continent (ideally as part of a strategy that involves condoms and other preventative measures).
We're talking about people's lives here.
I have no dog in the fight here I just choose to look at all of the facts and not have a knee-jerk reaction based on whatever preconceived ideas I might have.
If someone wants to be circumcised as an adult that's their choice. No one is making them do it. Just like no one is making them have unprotected sex. I very much support the use of condoms or even (Gasp!) monogamy.
Obviously this is not a magic bullet cure for aids and no one is claiming that it is. I'm amazed that people who argue so angrily and ask me to post proof don't show me the same. I'm more than willing to maintain a civil discourse. But you have to first be intellectually honest. My sources are a reputable journal of medicine, the World Health Organization, and UNAIDS (the Joint United Nations Programme on Hiv/Aids. What's yours?
http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news/Circumcision-Found-To-Prevent-HIV-Spread-2463-1/
http://www.thelancet.com/