A statement by Doctors Opposing Circumcision

” Conclusion. Male circumcision is a highly emotive operation that generates strong feelings in many men,10 especially those who have been circumcised,61 as have most North Americans. The trauma associated with the operation may generate a desire to repeat or reenact the trauma.62 Other men may feel a need to justify their own circumcision by the generation of claims of health benefits.61 The medical literature is full of protective claims for various diseases, such as sexually transmitted disease (formerly called venereal disease),63 male and female cancers, and urinary tract infection.64 All such claims have been disproved.

The RCTs on which the current claims are based have been carried out by men who have a previous history of promoting circumcision. DOC has little confidence in such studies, especially since contradictory evidence exists.

Male circumcision may increase male-to-female transmission of HIV and mitigate any reduction in female-to-male transmission. A preliminary report confirms the increased risk to women.65

Instituting a program of male circumcision is of dubious value. It will divert resources from proven methods of epidemic control and it may generate a false sense of security in males who have been circumcised. The desensitization of the penis that frequently results from male circumcision is likely to make men less willing to use condoms. A program of male circumcision very likely may worsen the epidemic.

The epidemic in Africa may have little to do with lack of circumcision and everything to do with the percentage of the female population engaged in female sex work. Talbot (2007) has established a correlation between the number of female sex workers in the population and the level of HIV infection.66

Calls are being heard for the circumcision of children although (assuming that male circumcision is effective at controlling female-to-male infection) this could not be helpful until the child becomes sexually active. As previously stated, the non-therapeutic excision of healthy body parts from non-consenting children is a violation of human rights44 and medically unethical.45 Therefore, the true motivation of the circumcision proponents must be questioned.46 It may be perpetuation of neonatal circumcision, not control of HIV.

DOC believes that more emphasis on education, behavior change—such as abstinence before marriage and fidelity after marriage, provision of condoms, treatment of other sexually transmitted diseases, treatment of genital ulcer disease, control of malaria, and provision of safe healthcare would be more likely to produce beneficial results. The ultimate answer is likely to be one or more of the vaccines now in development.”

The one randomized controlled trial into male-to-female transmission showed a 54% higher rate in the group where the men had been circumcised btw.

ABC (Abstinence, Being faithful, Condoms) is the way forward. Promoting genital surgery will cost African lives, not save them.