Great short article on male circumcision campaigns in Swaziland for HIV prevention in The Atlantic. It's encouraging to see that efforts are underway in Swazi to begin getting their epidemic under control. It's also good to see that safe sex counseling and voluntary HIV testing are a part of the circumcision procedure. It'll be a hard road, since the country has the world's highest adult prevalence rate at 25.9%.
Obviously, male circumcision is not the end-all, be-all solution--especially since it helps with prevention among males but not females. Women bear a disproportionate disease burden in Swaziland--while 20% of males aged 15-49 are living with HIV, 31% of women are. All the same, it's a good first step.
Stats courtesy of AVERT and UNAIDS.
Obviously, male circumcision is not the end-all, be-all solution--especially since it helps with prevention among males but not females. Women bear a disproportionate disease burden in Swaziland--while 20% of males aged 15-49 are living with HIV, 31% of women are. All the same, it's a good first step.
Stats courtesy of AVERT and UNAIDS.
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