Harvard Researcher: Money Spent to Fight HIV in Africa is Poorly Managed

Harvard Researchers reported in the university's Science Magazine this week on the matter of HIV prevention in Africa. Malcom Potts, a family planning researcher at University of California, Berkeley, described how most of the money that goes into fighting the HIV epidemic in African countries goes towards condoms and voluntary testing and counseling, and very little towards the more proven methods of male circumcision and education about reducing sexual activity with multiple partners. Male circumcision education programs are effective, because apparently inside the foreskin is contained a large number of "Langerhans cells" that can pick up HIV, whereas circumcised males do not have the same level vulnerability and are about 50% less likely to acquire the disease in the act of sexual intercourse.

As of yet, maybe only 2 or 3% of the overall funding is used to promote male circumcision.

Potts also reports that contrary to the notion that the poverty in Africa is what creates the situation for the disease to spread, he says, "In all the countries where we have demographic and health surveys, it tends to be the upper economic quintiles, both men and interestingly of women, who have the highest prevalence of the disease - it's more urban than rural. So, undoubtedly, you know, poverty makes everything more difficult, but it's not the driving factor. The driving factor is that men use wealth and power to have sex - and it's a pretty universal behavior."

This information was taken from the transcript of a radio interview. More information gleaned from the actual subscription only magazine report is at CWNews. They mention the high success rates of abstinence education in Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Ivory Coast.