The potential impact of male circumcision on HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A randomized controlled trial (RCT) has shown that male circumcision (MC) reduces sexual transmission of HIV from women to men by 60% (32%-76%; 95% CI) offering an intervention of proven efficacy for reducing the sexual spread of HIV. We explore the implications of this finding for the promotion of MC as a public health intervention to control HIV in sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods and findings

Using dynamical simulation models we consider the impact of MC on the relative prevalence of HIV in men and women and in circumcised and uncircumcised men. Using country level data on HIV prevalence and MC, we estimate the impact of increasing MC coverage on HIV incidence, HIV prevalence, and HIV-related deaths over the next ten, twenty, and thirty years in sub-Saharan Africa.

SUBMITTER: Williams BG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1489185 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature