Circumcising babies could help Africa AIDS fight
Tue Jan 19, 2010 6:04pm GMT
By Kate Kelland
Source: Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) - Circumcising newborn boys to stop them becoming infected with the AIDS virus in later life is more cost-effective than circumcising adult men, Rwandan health experts said on Tuesday.
A study by Agnes Binagwaho and colleagues at Rwanda’s health ministry found that the operation, which has been shown to cut dramatically the virus’ transmission from women to men, is quicker, simpler and more cost-effective in newborns.
The findings suggest “Rwanda should be simultaneously scaling up circumcision across a broad range of age groups, with high priority to the very young,” Binagwaho wrote in the study in the Public Library of Science (PLoS) Medicine journal.
The researchers analysed the balance between the costs of medical intervention and its overall benefits. They found each newborn male circumcision would cost $15, while each adolescent or adult operation would cost $59.
They also found that circumcising male babies would ultimately save more money than it costs, because the operation would prevent HIV infections that are expensive to treat and lead to AIDS, which kills.
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