TWO weeks ago, I wrote an article on the challenges of voluntary medical male circumcision and I received a lot of reactions from readers. Here is one interesting response that I got:
Hello Enock,
I read with interest your article in allAfrica.com, called Zambia: Challenges of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC).
First, I disagree with the premise.  The end goal is not VMMC in itself.
The objective is to reduce HIV infection.
Believe it or not, the only studies which show that circumcision reduces the chance of HIV infection, are the three African studies which so loudly proclaimed that circumcision decreased a man’s chances of getting HIV by 60 per cent.  This is considered to be junk science, by doctors outside of the US, Africa, and WHO.
This is a pretty good discussion of the flaws of those three studies.
http://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/2012/05/when-bad-science-kills-or-how-to-spread-aids/
Here is another.  You may have to click on the red “full text JAMA”, and get rid of an advertisement, in order to read it.
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1104926
The reason that the WHO went along with the three studies, is largely because their advisor on circumcision, David Tomlinson, invented four circumcision devices.
If you hire the inventor of four circumcision devices as your expert, and then ask him if circumcision is a good idea, what would you guess his answer would be?  He stands to make a profit from each device sold.
When someone is being told there is a 60 per centchance of reducing HIV infection, and circumcision is suggested, that is not exactly voluntary, is it?
Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision is a euphemism.  It is based on scaring someone into a circumcision, and towards the medical establishment, and away from the traditional practitioner.
The odd thing about all of this, is that many European countries, where circumcision is rare, have much lower rates of infection of all sexually transmitted diseases, than the US, Israel, or Ethiopia, where circumcision is common.
Check wikipedia.org, HIV rates by country.  It may surprise you. American studies show no correlation between circumcision status, and sexually transmitted disease, or show them to be greater in circumcised men.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22897699
Here is a study from the US Navy.  It is a PDF file, so you will need Adobe or Adobe reader in order to read it.
http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA458066
USAID states: “There appears to be no clear pattern of association between male circumcision and HIV prevalence. In 8 of 18 countries with data, as expected, HIV prevalence is lower among circumcised men, while in the remaining 10 countries HIV prevalence is higher among circumcised men”.
http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/CR22/CR22.pdf
Circumcision, by its very nature, causes damage.  It removes at least half the skin of a penis, and turns what is meant to be internal, into an external part.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23374102/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21672947
In the US, we have buried nearly a million mostly circumcised men, who died of AIDS. Since its value in preventing HIV, and other sexually transmitted disease is at best questionable, and circumcision causes damage, I think your public would be better served, if you advocated safe sex, and condom usage.  This is what the rest of the world does to prevent HIV, and it is far more effective than circumcision.
All my best,
Tom Tobin

Thanks Tom for your thoughts. Any other thoughts from you?
Finally, I received mail from Samuel Kumar on the forthcoming AIDS conference that his organization, the Zambia AIDS Research Foundation (ZARF) and other partners are organising.
Dear colleagues,
ZARF in Partnership with Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign (TALC) welcomes you to attend the HIV/AIDS WORKSHOP.
The convening of the two days  HIV/AIDS Workshop at the Golden bridge hotel Lusaka, Zambia  on   2nd and 3rd  MAY 2014 , represents a tremendous opportunity to know in detail about the nature of HIV, its mechanism, prevention, care and newer advances in finding a cure and we all have a responsibility to reduce the burden of HIV.
This training workshop will strengthen our efforts across all regions and around the World, building on the momentum of recent scientific advances.
We welcome people to attend this conference from across the region.
If you have any suggestion(s) to include topics not covered in the list attached hereto, kindly do not hesitate to write to us and we shall consider your recommendations.
For further information and bookings for participation contact us on 0974207518, 0968283267 or send us an e mail to   workshopzambia@gmail.com or you may come in person. You may also visit our website www.aidsresearchzambia.org
Thanks to you too Samuel. For comments on HIV/AIDS or any health related issues, you can contact me on knoxngoma@gmail.com or SMS/call +260955883143