-- Criticisms of African Trials Fail to Withstand Scrutiny

Thursday, 29th of November 2012

CRITICISMS OF AFRICAN TRIALS FAIL TO WITHSTAND SCRUTINY: MALE CIRCUMCISION DOESPREVENT HIV

Wamai and colleagues rebut the views of two critics of the randomized clinical trials from South Africa, Kenya and Uganda.

‘The scientific evidence of male circumcision’s protective effect against male-to-female transmission of HIV is “solid, consistent and beyond a reasonable doubt,” experts from leading universities and other institutions conclude in an article published in the Australian Journal of Law and Medicine. The authors provide a comprehensive overview of the evidence that male circumcision reduces men’s risk of acquiring HIV through vaginal sex by about 60 percent. Aiming to “put science back at the core of the debate,” they also evaluate each claim made in an article published in JLM in December, demonstrating how its authors used flawed statistical analyses, outmoded evidence, selective reporting of studies, data from non-peer-reviewed sources and misleading statements to question the effectiveness of male circumcision for HIV prevention (JLM, 5 September 2012).’

- www.malecircumcision.org

Full text of the article by Wamai and colleagues is at

http://www.ghdonline.org/uploads/JLM2012_Male_circ_does_prevent_HIV_infection.pdf