UNAIDS

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UNAIDS.jpg
Headed by:
Stephen H. Lewis (2001-2006)
Peter Piot (2007-2009)
Michel Sidibé (2009-2011)
Related Organizations:
World Health Organization
UNICEF

UNAIDS is the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS that works towards achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.[1] UNAIDS established in 1994 by a resolution of the UN Economic and Social Council and launched in January 1996.[2]

Stephen Lewis - Former head of UNAIDS

Stephen Henry Lewis, CC, (born 11 November 1937),[3] is a Canadian politician,[4] broadcaster, diplomat and former head of UNAIDS. He is Jewish (why this is important),[5] and a very outspoken feminist.[6] Lewis is a vehement promoter of male circumcision, particularly infant male circumcision (as HIV prevention policy).[7] Lewis calls circumcision "inspired preventive technology." Lewis is very close friends with Bill Clinton.[8][9] Stephen was the leader of the democratic socialist Ontario New Democratic Party for most of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, he was appointed as Canada's United Nations ambassador. He quit in 1988 and worked at various United Nations agencies during the 1990s. In the 2000s, he served a term as the United Nations' special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, and head of UNAIDS.[10]

Quotes

“ There was some titter of laughter and gentile applause which resonated throughout the room. So I felt it was the appropriate moment to tell the crowd that I was circumcised. Which I did. There followed what can only be described as an Orgy of Male Bonding. I have never been so embraced and hugged so extravagantly by numbers of people simultaneously as they conveyed to me that they understood the importance of circumcision and recognized that it's withstood the transmission of the virus.
– Stephen H. Lewis[11]
“ The most unexpected and successful preventative technology, which has been chronicaled in the last couple of years, is male circumcision.
– Stephen H. Lewis[12]

Criticism

The VMMC Experience Project has published a massive, illustrated 153-page report on VMMC in Africa for the United Nations.[13]

Circumcision does not prevent HIV infection

Population-based studies

September 2021 saw the publication of two huge population studies on the relationship of circumcision and HIV infection:

  1. Mayan et al. (2021) carried out a massive empirical study of the male population of the province of Ontario, Canada (569,950 males), of whom 203,588 (35.7%) were circumcised between 1991 and 2017. The study concluded that circumcision status is not related to risk of HIV infection.[14]
  2. Morten Frisch & Jacob Simonsen (2021) carried out a large scale empirical population study in Denmark of 855,654 males regarding the alleged value of male circumcision in preventing HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in men. They found that circumcised men have a higher rate of STI and HIV infection overall than intact men.[15]

No association between lack of circumcision and risk of HIV infection was found by either study. There now is credible evidence that the massive, expensive African circumcision programs have not been effective in preventing HIV infection.

Two African surveys

The previously reported studies were from developed Western nations. Now we have information from Sub_Saharan Africa.

French scientist Michel Garenne, Ph.D. has published two reports in 2022 comparing the incidence of HIV infection in circumcised and intact men.

In his first report, Garenne presented the findings from a study in Lesotho, the enclave in South Africa. He reported:

In couple studies, the effect of circumcision and VMMC on HIV was not significant, with similar transmission from female to male and male to female. The study questions the amount of effort and money spent on VMMC in Lesotho.[16]

In his second report, Garenne (2022) presented information from six Sub-Saharan African nations (Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe). He reported:

"Results matched earlier observations made in South Africa that circumcised and intact men had similar levels of HIV infection."[17]</blockquote

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ REFweb UNAIDS. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
  2. ↑ REFnews (3 November 2008)."UNAIDS: The First 10 Years", UNAIDS. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  3. ↑ Smith, p.258 (more here)
  4. ↑ MacDonald, pp. 151-152 (more here)
  5. ↑ REFbook Smith C (1989): Unfinished Journey: The Lewis Family. Edition: 1. Summerhill Press. P. 330. ISBN 0-929091-04-3.
  6. ↑ REFweb Lewis, Stephen (2 February 2010). Stephen Lewis Co-Dir, Aids free world. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
  7. ↑ REFweb AIDSFreeWorld (6 January 2010). Male Circumcision, part 1. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
  8. ↑ REFweb garymcnutt (24 September 2006). Stephen Lewis on Gender Equality. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
  9. ↑ REFweb clintonfoundationorg (4 October 2009). A Special Discussion with President Clinton on World AIDS Day. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
  10. ↑ REFweb Toye, Suelan (14 September 2010). Stephen Lewis, humanitarian, diplomat and activist, appointed a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ryerson University, Ryerson University. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  11. ↑ Fora, TV. (2008). Stephen Lewis: disease and climate change in Africa.
  12. ↑ Fora, TV. (2008). Stephen Lewis: disease and climate change in Africa.
  13. ↑ REFdocument Fish, Max: Circumcision Campaigns: African experience and human rights: The U.N. Report PDF, VMMC Experience Project. (7 May 2019). Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  14. ↑ REFjournal Mayan M, Hamilton RJ, Juurlink DN, Austin PC, Jarvi KA. Circumcision and Risk of HIV Among Males From Ontario, Canada. J Urol. 23 September 2021; PMID. DOI. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
    Quote: We found that circumcision was not independently associated with the risk of acquiring HIV among men from Ontario, Canada.
  15. ↑ REFjournal Frisch M, Simonsen J. Non-therapeutic male circumcision in infancy or childhood and risk of human immunodeficiency virus and other sexually transmitted infections: national cohort study in Denmark. Eur J Epidemiol. 26 September 2021; 37: 251–9. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  16. ↑ REFjournal Garenne M. Changing relationships between HIV prevalence and circumcision in Lesotho. J Biosoc Sci. 4 April 2022; online ahead of print: 1-16. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  17. ↑ REFjournal Garenne M. Age-incidence and prevalence of HIV among intact and circumcised men: an analysis of PHIA surveys in Southern Africa. J Biosoc Sci. 26 October 2022; : 1-13. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
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