If you circumcise a man you reduce the chances of his acquiring AIDS, so says the results of a three-year study conducted in South Africa. It is true that the inside of the foreskin and the glans that it covers are a breeding ground for many a germ. Completely removing the foreskin should therefore do the trick.

Initiates from traditional African schools are/were normally circumcised, but apparently under sub-optimal conditions, so much that some die/died due to the act. The hospital may provide the answer, but only if there’s enough staff and equipment and space. “In Swaziland, which has the world’s highest HIV rate at 33.4 percent, men wait for months to undergo circumcision due to a shortage of surgeons. [news.yahoo.com]”

We need everything we have to hurl at AIDS and prevent its onslaught. The UN has just announced that the disease seems to be losing speed: it is no cause for jubilation, but for striking back and protecting ourselves. That will have to do until we find the virus’s Achilles heel. And we need to remember that whether circumcised or not, wearing or not wearing a French letter when having sex is still a matter of life and death.