Neil Pollock: Difference between revisions

}}</ref> as part of a team on a "fact finding mission." He was asked by David Patrick, then Head of Epidemiology at the BCCDC.<ref name="millman2009" /> The mission was supposed to consult with the Rwandan healthcare system involved in the fight against AIDS,<ref name="millman2009" /> but Pollock took advantage of the trip to promote infant circumcision specifically.<ref name="millman2009" /> Upon being told that few parents were having their children circumcised because the procedures were being performed with scissors and stitches, without adequate anaesthetic and were taking around 30 minutes to complete,<ref name="millman2009" /> he took the opportunity to promote the [[Mogen]] infant circumcision procedure under the guise of "[[HIV]] prevention."<ref name="millman2009" /><ref>{{REFnews

  |quote=Vancouver-based circumcision and vasectomy surgeon, Dr. Neil Pollock, recently returned from a 10 day mission to sub-Saharan Africa where he taught Rwandan doctors proper infant circumcision technique to help them stem the spread of AIDS in the region.

}}</ref> He took advantage of the AIDS crisis, and the fact that the [[WHO]]/[[UNAIDS]] had endorsed circumcision as legitimate [[HIV]] prevention to promote specifically infant circumcision, and his "simple and painless procedure" (AKA, the [[Mogen]] technique).<ref>{{REFnews

  |quote=When a relatively simple and painless procedure exists that can so dramatically reduce one's chances of contracting AIDS, it seemed tragic that the local doctors in Rwanda were not properly trained to use it...

}}</ref> Pollock was largely instrumental in making infant circumcision a priority for the Rwandan Ministry of Health in the fight against AIDS. <ref>{{REFnews

  |quote=At the end of Dr. Pollock's visit, the Rwandan Ministry of Health announced they were making infant circumcision a priority in their fight against AIDS, as they found it to be more sustainable in the long run and ten times cheaper than adult circumcision(v).