Health officials, UN representatives, and traditional leaders convened in Blantyre in February 2007 to debate whether Malawi should adopt male circumcision programs as part of its HIV response. The country faces a severe burden: roughly 14 percent of its 12 million people are HIV-positive, about 78,000 die of AIDS-related causes each year, and average life expectancy has dropped to 36.
Clinical trials in Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa found that uncircumcised men were twice as likely to contract HIV. In Kenya and Uganda the results were so clear that researchers ended the studies ahead of schedule on ethical grounds. Scientists link the protective effect partly to the foreskin's thin tissue layer, which suffers small tears during intercourse, and partly to a dense concentration of Langerhans cells that the virus readily attaches to.
International experts urged Malawi to take the evidence seriously without prescribing a specific policy. South African researcher Dirk Taljaard said circumcision confers roughly 60 percent protection but warned against treating it as a substitute for broader prevention efforts. UN Population Fund advisor Hellen Jackson said it could form one useful element of a wider HIV prevention strategy, not a replacement for condoms or reduced partners.
Bizwick Mwale, head of Malawi's National AIDS Commission, said wider public consultation was needed before any commitment. Currently, about 2 percent of Malawians, mostly Muslims living along Lake Malawi, are circumcised.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in February 2007, in its own words.