UN report: Male circumcision cost-effective to curb HIV spread

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Male circumcision is a cost-effective means to prevent the spread of HIV, a new UN report said on Wednesday.

The study, published in the journal PLoS Medicine, found that one HIV infection could be prevented for every 5 to 15 procedures performed on heterosexual men.

The procedure is expected to control the cost of preventing one HIV infection in high HIV prevalence areas between 150 U.S. dollars and 900 U.S. dollars within 10 years.

First-line treatment usually costs over 7,000 U.S. dollars during a lifetime, and will double if involving second-line therapies, the report said. With each circumcision procedure costing between 30 U.S. dollars and 60 U.S. dollars, "circumcising sexually active males of any age is likely to be cost saving," it said.

The report is based on findings in meetings held by the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modeling and Analysis (SACEMA).

The report however pointed out that male circumcision may be of a little use to curb HIV transmission among men who have sex with men.

Despite studies confirming that circumcision could reduce female-to-male HIV transmission by 60 percent, the procedure does not directly protect women from the virus, the report said.