Robert C. Bailey: Difference between revisions

[[Robert C. Bailey]] is Professor of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Research Associate at Field Museum in Chicago.<ref name="Bailey">

}}</ref> Bailey has been a circumcision proponent since at least 1998.<ref>Moses S, Bailey RC, Ronald AR. Male circumcision: assessment of health benefits and risks. Sex Transm Infect 1998;74(5):368-73.</ref> Bailey was responsible (along with [[Stephen Moses]]) for one of the three major African circumcision trials (funded by NIAID, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the United States [[National Institutes of Health]]),<ref name='DOC 2008'>{{REFweb

  |last=Doctors Opposing Circumcision

}}</ref><ref>12. Bailey RC, Moses S, Parker CB, et al. Male circumcision for [[HIV]] prevention in young men in Kisumu, Kenya: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2007;369:643-56</ref> which are being used by the [[WHO|World Health Organization]] (under the guide of [[UNAIDS]]) to endorse circumcision as an [[HIV]] prevention method.<ref>{{REFweb

}}</ref>

}}</ref> He has conducted circumcision-related studies in varying communities in Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, and the U.S. He has studied adverse events and conducted needs assessments associated with medical and traditional circumcisions in Kenya.

Bailey is the principal investigator of the randomized controlled trial of male circumcision to reduce [[HIV]] incidence in Kisumu, Kenya, and he has served as a consultant to [[WHO]], [[UNAIDS]], [[UNICEF]], the [[World Bank]], [[USAID]], the [[CDC]], and other national and international governmental and non-governmental agencies.<ref name="Bailey"/>

In Bailey's trial, the circumcised group had specific instructions to abstain from sex and use condoms that the intact control group did not. Bailey has admitted that "repeated study visits and intensive behavioral counseling" of the circumcised men were needed to reduce risk behaviors.<ref>{{REFnews

"Research" advocating infant circumcision has been published by the University of Illinois and the Nyanza Reproductive Health Society.<ref>{{REFnews

  |quote=The research, conducted by the University of Illinois and the Nyanza Reproductive Health Society to assess the acceptability of infant male circumcision...

}}</ref> While it may appear as if two independent medical organizations are publishing research, Robert Bailey happens to be a Professor of Epidemiology and an adjunct professor of Anthropology in the University of Chicago at Illinois, as well as the Secretary of the Board of the Nyanza Reproductive Health Society.

Bailey's research on circumcision protection from [[HIV]] infection is now completely discredited. Boyle & Hill (2011) reviewed the three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and found disabling methodological and statistical errors in all three. Although a 60 percent ''relative'' reduction in [[HIV]] was claimed, the ''absolute'' reduction was a statistically insignificant 1.3 percent.<ref name="boyle-hill2011">{{BoyleGJ HillG 2011}}</ref> Garenne & Matthews (2019) report that circumcised men have as much [[HIV]] infection as intact men.<ref>{{REFjournal

  |author-link=