WHO recommends circumcision to deter AIDS epidemic

New recommendations from the World Health Organization and the U.N. AIDS agency advise that “countries with rampant AIDS epidemics should begin offering free or subsidized circumcisions in hopes of preventing millions of new infections and deaths.” The announcement “capped a gradual reversal in attitudes about circumcision. A small group of researchers has been hailing its value for more than a decade, producing dozens of studies showing that regions with high HIV rates generally have low rates of circumcision. Three experiments, including two whose results were reported in December, have largely settled the debate in the scientific community.” Circumcision also lowers the risk of genital warts, which can be transmitted to female partners and cause cervical cancer.