News

Laura MacDonald
(This page does not contain medical advice)

NORM-UK Trustee response to Independent article

Wednesday 23rd June 2010
NORM-UK Trustee Richard Duncker has replied to an Independent article of 15th June. The article, entitled Is This the Start of a Backlash Against Circumcision acknowledges recent strong criticism of child circumcision but also repeats previous suggestions that it will reduce sexually transmitted HIV in Africa.

Richard comments in his letter (which can be viewed in full here) that the article fails to address key ethical issues. He says, "Whatever evidence is shown for or against circumcision is irrelevant; children are not sexually active, therefore they can derive no benefit from the protective effects Mr Laurance refers to. Children can be left to mature and evaluate the claims for and against excision of the foreskin; then they can decide for themselves how they want to manage their sex lives. Doctors may well respect parents "strong feelings" but they should remember that the child is their patient, not the parents."

Zambia, cited by Jeremy Laurance in the article, now has a target of 80% of newborn boys to be circumcised by 2020. Yet circumcision remains unproven as a long term HIV preventative, with population data contradicting the conclusions of the three much publicised circumcision trials. Infant circumcision has not been shown to improve long term health outcomes in any setting, and medicalised infant circumcision in Africa in fact has a complication rate of over 20%.

Circumcision in tribal conditions in Africa has a complication rate of 35%. In South Africa's Eastern Cape region where 50,000 boys underwent circumcision last year, 91 died and hundreds were hospitalised.

A NORM-UK analysis of the claims about circumcision and HIV can be found here. The NORM-UK news pages also contain several recent items regarding circumcision and HIV. See here for links to news about circumcision and HIV in Uganda, Kenya, the US, and Britain.