Annie Lennox

HIV campaigners, Memory Sachikonye (left) and Lennox (right) meet with the UK's Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell in December 2011

Annie Lennox is a Scottish singer who has lent her support to the circumcision / HIV message since 2008. In 2010 she appeared as a collaborator at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna. In 2012 she appeared at the Hope Rising concert alongside Sarah McLachlan and Angélique Kidjo. The Hope Rising concerts were held in support of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, whose founder, Stephen H. Lewis, is an avid promoter of circumcision as HIV prevention in Africa.

(The following text or part of it is quoted from the free Wikipedia:)

Lennox opened the 2009 Edinburgh Festival of Politics with commentary on Pope Benedict XVI's approach to HIV/AIDS prevention in Africa. She said that the Pope's denunciation of condoms on his recent tour of Africa had caused "tremendous harm" and she criticised the Roman Catholic Church for causing widespread confusion on the continent. Lennox also condemned the media's obsession with "celebrity culture" for keeping the AIDS pandemic off the front page. During her address, Lennox wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "HIV positive". Lennox wore similar T-shirts at the 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concert at Madison Square Garden on 30 October 2009, during her appearance on The Graham Norton Show on 30 November 2009 [...], during a recorded performance for American Idol during a 21 April 2010 fundraiser, entitled Idol Gives Back, and during a performance on the live Comic Relief show on 18 March 2011.

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She is one of those exemplary human beings who chose to put her success in her chosen career to work in order to benefit others. She is a true friend of Africa and of South Africa. Her AIDS activism in general, and support for the treatment action campaign in-particular, contributed significantly to turning the pandemic around in our country. (Archbishop Desmond Tutu pays tribute to Annie Lennox in November 2013.)

In June 2010, Lennox was named as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for AIDS, a role that continues as of August 2013. Lennox also works with other organisations such as Oxfam, Amnesty International and the British Red Cross in regard to the issue.

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.
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.

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.