login
Become a member
Quick Registration
Full Registration Benefits -
Free Homepages for Doctors
Free Homepages for Hospitals
Free Homepages for Medical Conference
Free Homepages for NGO's
Personal Health Record Creation
Access to all Medical Slides
Access to all Jobs & Products Sale
Male Circumcision Overstated as Deterrent to Global AIDS Pandemic
While previous research has suggested that circumcision 'significantly' cuts HIV risk in men, a new study has found that it is much less important as a deterrent to the global AIDS pandemic than previously thought.
Author John R. Talbott who conducted statistical empirical research across 77 countries of the world conducted the study.
He found that the number of infected prostitutes in a country is the key to explaining the degree to which AIDS has infected the general population.
Prostitute communities are typically very highly infected with the virus themselves, and because of the large number of sex partners they have each year, can act as an engine driving infection rates to unusually high levels in the general population.
He also made two important discoveries.
First, male circumcision, which in previous studies had been found to be important in controlling AIDS, becomes statistically irrelevant once the study controls for the number of prostitutes in a country.
The study finds that the more Muslim countries of North Africa do indeed suffer much less AIDS than southern and western Africa, but this lower prevalence is not due to higher numbers of circumscribed males in these Muslim communities, but rather results from the fact that there are significantly fewer prostitutes in northern Africa on a per capita basis.
In a frequently cited academic paper, Daniel Halperin, an H.I.V. specialist at the Harvard Center for Population and Development and one of the world's leading advocates for male circumcision, weighted results from individual countries by their population. When this artificial weighting was removed Talbott found that circumcision was no longer statistically significant in explaining the variance in AIDS infection rates across the countries of the World.
Author John R. Talbott who conducted statistical empirical research across 77 countries of the world conducted the study.
He found that the number of infected prostitutes in a country is the key to explaining the degree to which AIDS has infected the general population.
Prostitute communities are typically very highly infected with the virus themselves, and because of the large number of sex partners they have each year, can act as an engine driving infection rates to unusually high levels in the general population.
He also made two important discoveries.
First, male circumcision, which in previous studies had been found to be important in controlling AIDS, becomes statistically irrelevant once the study controls for the number of prostitutes in a country.
The study finds that the more Muslim countries of North Africa do indeed suffer much less AIDS than southern and western Africa, but this lower prevalence is not due to higher numbers of circumscribed males in these Muslim communities, but rather results from the fact that there are significantly fewer prostitutes in northern Africa on a per capita basis.
In a frequently cited academic paper, Daniel Halperin, an H.I.V. specialist at the Harvard Center for Population and Development and one of the world's leading advocates for male circumcision, weighted results from individual countries by their population. When this artificial weighting was removed Talbott found that circumcision was no longer statistically significant in explaining the variance in AIDS infection rates across the countries of the World.
|
|
|
More News on: Oral Health And AIDS, Phimosis, AIDS/HIV, AIDS/HIV - Epidemiology, AIDS/HIV - Clinical Features, AIDS/HIV - Health Education, AIDS/HIV - Prevention And Transmission, AIDS / HIV - Treatment, AIDS/HIV- Lab Tests and Faqs, AIDS - Initial Theories and Disease Progression
 Comment & Contribute
|
Medwonders Health Network
- Health News Index
- News Quick Links
 |
AIDS
Complete Medindia Resources
|
| News Categories: |
| » | Schizophrenia Drug Differentiates Cancer Stem Cells into Less Threatening Cells |
| » | Docs Who Seldom Meet Drug Reps Continue to Prescribe Drugs With FDA “Black Box” Warnings |
| » | Revision in Quality Standards for Heparin |
| » | Acne Drug Users At High Risk of Developing Eye Infections |
| » | Patients Who Take Antidepressants When in ICU More Likely to Die |
| More Drug News | |
|
