Study: Fight HIV with male circumcision

BOSTON, May 9 (UPI) -- Human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, prevention programs in Africa should promote male circumcision and discourage multiple partners, U.S. researchers say.

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of California, Berkeley, analyzed HIV prevention strategies in parts of Africa with high-HIV-prevalence and conclude two of the less supported interventions -- male circumcision and reducing multiple sexual partnerships -- need to become the cornerstone of HIV prevention there.

The researchers say other strategies -- such as condom promotion, HIV testing, treating other sexually transmitted infections, vaccine and microbicide research and abstinence -- are having a limited impact and some of the assumptions underlying them are unsupported by rigorous scientific evidence.

The researchers' findings are published in Science.

"Despite relatively large investments in AIDS prevention efforts for some years now, including sizable spending in some of the most heavily affected countries -- such as South Africa and Botswana -- it's clear that we need to do a better job of reducing the rate of new HIV infections," study lead author Daniel Halperin of Harvard said in a statement.

"We need a fairly dramatic shift in priorities, not just a minor tweaking."