Hostname: page-component-5b777bbd6c-v4w92 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-06-20T22:55:50.968Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Comment on ‘Changing relationships between HIV prevalence and circumcision in Lesotho’, and ‘Age-incidence and prevalence of HIV among intact and circumcised men: an analysis of PHIA surveys in Southern Africa’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2024

Brian J. Morris Open the ORCID record for Brian J. Morris [Opens in a new window]  and
Joya Banerjee
Brian J. Morris*
Affiliation:
School of Medical Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Joya Banerjee
Affiliation:
Be the Change Group, Vancouver, BC, Canada
*
Corresponding author: Brian J. Morris; Email: brian.morris@sydney.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two articles by Garenne (2023a,b) argue that voluntary medical male circumcision does not reduce human immunodeficiency virus transmission in Africa. Here we point out key evidence and analytical flaws that call into question this conclusion.

Keywords

Human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndromecircumcisionSouthern Africareproductive healthvoluntary medical male circumcision
Type
Debate
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 56 , Issue 5 , September 2024 , pp. 925 - 928
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Addanki, KC, Pace, DG and Bagasra, O (2008) A practice for all seasons: male circumcision and the prevention of HIV transmission. Journal of Infection in Developing Countries 2(5), 328–334.Google ScholarPubMed
Bansi-Matharu, L, Mudimu, E, Martin-Hughes, R, Hamilton, M, Johnson, L, ten Brink, D, Stover, J, Meyer-Rath, G, Kelly, SL, Jamieson, L, Cambiano, V, Jahn, A, Cowan, FM, Mangenah, C, Mavhu, W, Chidarikire, T, Toledo, C, Revill, P, Sundaram, M, Hatzold, K, Yansaneh, A, Apollo, T, Kalua, T, Mugurungi, O, Kiggundu, V, Zhang, S, Nyirenda, R, Phillips, A, Kripke, K and Bershteyn, A (2023) Cost-effectiveness of voluntary medical male circumcision for HIV prevention across sub-Saharan Africa: results from five independent models. Lancet Global Health 11(2), e244–e255.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bershteyn, A, Mudimu, E, Platais, I, Mwalili, S, Zulu, JE, Mwanza, WN and Kripke, K (2022) Understanding the evolving role of voluntary medical male circumcision as a public health strategy in Eastern and Southern Africa: opportunities and challenges. Current HIV/AIDS Reports 19(6), 526–536.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borenstein, M, Hedges, L, Higgins, JPT and Rothstein, HR (2009) Introduction to Meta-Analysis. John Wiley and Sons: West Sussex.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brewer, DD, Potterat, JJ, Roberts, JM Jr and Brody, S (2007). Male and female circumcision associated with prevalent HIV infection in virgins and adolescents in Kenya, Lesotho, and Tanzania. Annals of Epidemiology 17, 217–226.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brewer, DD, Potterat, JJ, Roberts, JM and Brody, S (2009) Unhygienic male circumcision procedures and HIV transmission. South African Medical Journal 99(1), 11.Google ScholarPubMed
Byakika-Tusiime, J (2008) Circumcision and HIV infection: assessment of causality. AIDS Behavior 12(6), 835–841.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carrasco, MA, Rosen, JG, Maile, L, Manda, R, Amzel, A and Kiggundu, V (2020) Medically, traditionally, and dually circumcised men in Lesotho: population–based measurements of HIV/STI infections, sexual risk behaviors, and service use patterns. AIDS and Behavior 24(7), 2112–2118.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coburn, BJ, Okano, JT and Blower, S (2013) Current drivers and geographic patterns of HIV in Lesotho: implications for treatment and prevention in Sub-Saharan Africa. BMC Medicine 11, 224.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Connolly, C, Simbayi, LC, Shanmugam, R and Nqeketo, A (2008) Male circumcision and its relationship to HIV infection in South Africa: Results of a national survey in 2002. South African Medical Journal (SAMJ) 98, 789–794.Google ScholarPubMed
Farley, TMM, Samuelson, J, Grabowski, MK, Ameyan, W, Gray, RH and Baggaley, R (2020) Impact of male circumcision on risk of HIV infection in men in a changing epidemic context – systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of the International AIDS Society 23, e25490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garenne, M (2023a) Changing relationships between HIV prevalence and circumcision in Lesotho. Journal of Biosocial Science 55(3), 463–478.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garenne, M (2023b) Age-incidence and prevalence of HIV among intact and circumcised men: an analysis of PHIA surveys in Southern Africa. Journal of Biosocial Science 55(6), 1156–1168.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garenne, M (2023c) HIV prevention in Africa: is VMMC useful and acceptable? International Journal of Impotence Research 35, 279–281.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garenne, M and Matthews, A (2019) Voluntary medical male circumcision in Zambia: expectations and observations. Journal of Biosocial Science 52(4), 560–572.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, LF, Meyer-Rath, G, Dorrington, RE, Puren, A, Seathlodi, T, Zuma, K and Feizzadeh, A (2022) The effect of HIV programs in South Africa on national HIV incidence trends, 2000–2009. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome 90(2), 115–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lei, JH, Liu, LR, Wei, Q, Yan, SB, Yang, L, Song, TR, Yuan, HC, Lv, X and Han, P (2015) Circumcision status and risk of HIV acquisition during heterosexual intercourse for both males and females: a meta-analysis. PLoS One 10(5), e0125436.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Makatjane, T, Hlabana, T and Letete, E (2016) Male circumcision and HIV in Lesotho: Is the Relationship Real or Spurious? Analysis of the 2009 Demographic and Health Survey. Rockville, Maryland, USA: ICF International.Google Scholar
Morris, BJ, Barboza, G, Wamai, RG and Krieger, JN (2017) Expertise and ideology in statistical evaluation of circumcision for protection against HIV infection. World Journal of AIDS 7(3), 179–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, BJ, Barboza, G, Wamai, RG and Krieger, JN (2018). Circumcision is a primary preventive against HIV infection: critique of a contrary meta-regression analysis by Van Howe. Global Public Health 13(12), 1889–1899.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moses, S, Nagelkerke, NJ and Blanchard, J (1999) Analysis of the scientific literature on male circumcision and risk for HIV infection. International Journal of STD & AIDS 10(9), 626–628.Google ScholarPubMed
Ndiwane, A (2008). Laying down the knife may decrease risk of HIV transmission: cultural practices in Cameroon with implications for public health and policy. Journal of Cultural Diversity 15, 76–80.Google ScholarPubMed
O’Farrell, N and Egger, M (2000) Circumcision in men and the prevention of HIV infection: a ‘meta-analysis’ revisited. International Journal of STD & AIDS 11, 137–142.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Renne, S, Perry, B, Corneli, A, Chilungo, A and Umar, E (2016) Perceptions of voluntary medical male circumcision among circumcising and non-circumcising communities in Malawi. Global Public Health 10(5–6), 679–691.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenberg, MS, Goméz-Olivé, FX, Rohr, JK, Kahn, K and Bärnighausen, TW (2018) Are circumcised men safer sex partners? Findings from the HAALSI cohort in rural South Africa. PLoS One 13(8), e0201445.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shafer, LA, Nsubuga, RN, Chapman, R, O’Brien, K, Mayanja, BN and White, RG (2013) The dual impact of antiretroviral therapy and sexual behaviour changes on HIV epidemiologic trends in Uganda: a modelling study. Sexually Transmitted Infections 90, 423–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharma, SC, Raison, N, Khan, S, Shabbir, M, Dasgupta, P and Ahmed, K (2018) Male circumcision for the prevention of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) acquisition: a meta-analysis. BJU International 121, 515–526.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Siegfried, N, Muller, M, Volmink, J, Deeks, JJ, Egger, M, Low, NN, Weiss, HH, Walker, SA and Williamson, PR (2003). Male circumcision for prevention of heterosexual acquisition of HIV in men. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 3, CD003362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, AG, Tran, BR, Cranston, M, Brown, MC, Kumar, R and Tlelai, M (2011) Voluntary medical male circumcision: a cross-sectional study comparing circumcision self-report and physical examination findings in Lesotho. PLoS One 6(11), e27561.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
UNAIDS and WHO (2021) Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision. Geneva, Switzerland: UNAIDS & WHO.Google Scholar
Van Howe, RS (1999) Circumcision and HIV infection: review of the literature and meta-analysis. International Journal of STD & AIDS 10(1), 8–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Howe, RS (2015). Circumcision as a primary HIV preventive: extrapolating from the available data. Global Public Health 10(5–6), 607–625.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Howe, RS (2018). Expertise or ideology? A response to Morris et al. 2016, ‘circumcision is a primary preventive against HIV infection: critique of a contrary meta-regression analysis by Van Howe’. Global Public Health 13(12), 1900–1918.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weiss, HA, Quigley, MA and Hayes, RJ (2000) Male circumcision and risk of HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis. AIDS 14(15), 2361–2370.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zaidi, J, Grapsa, E, Tanser, F, Newell, M-L and Bärnighausen, T (2013) Dramatic increases in HIV prevalence after scale-up of antiretroviral treatment: a longitudinal population-based HIV surveillance study in rural Kwazulu-Natal. AIDS 27(14), 2301–2305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar