Introduction
Australia has shown a high increase in HIV/Aids infections. The 2nd common HIV/Aids infections recorded in the region are from heterosexual transmissions. Therefore, Australians should be encouraged to circumcise their male infants as well as boys and men to reduce the high HIV/Aids transmission in the region. Circumcision is known to reduce female to male HIV transmissions by approximately 50%.
Therefore, circumcision of male infants as well as Australian men that are not HIV infected will be an important step in the fight against HIV/Aids infections in the region. Since circumcision is a one-off procedure that does not have any ongoing costs or any other related expenses, all Australians should adopt circumcision of all men as a move to fight the high HIV infections. Moreover, circumcision is very beneficial because it does not have any other expenses that follow after. Those boys/men that undergo circumcision do it once and benefit from its preventive ability for the rest of their life (Turner, 2007).
How Circumcision Helps to Prevent HIV
HIV infections among uncircumcised men are high because the foreskin that is present in uncircumcised men makes HIV viruses thrive in the delicate part of the penis for longer periods. Therefore circumcising all Australian men and particularly the uninfected men and newborn male infants will help to fight HIV infections greatly as circumcision helps to keep the head of the penis dry and harden it against tear during sexual intercourse (Price, 2010).
Scientists noted that circumcised men had fewer chances of contracting HIV viruses because of the preventive advantages of circumcision. It was observed that during sexual intercourse, uncircumcised men are more prone to tear than circumcised men. Therefore, by circumcising all the uninfected men in Australia, women to men HIV infections will reduce by approximately 50%. This will greatly help to cut down HIV/Aids prevalence in Australia (Williams, 2006).
Heterosexual HIV infections are regarded as one of the main causes of the high HIV infections in Australia. They account for approximately 18% of all diagnoses. They are ranked as the second most common diagnosis after homosexual diagnosis accounting for 70%. Therefore, by circumcising all the men, the rate of heterosexual infections in Australia will reduce considerably as circumcised men are lesser prone to HIV infections than uncircumcised ones. This will help greatly to fight the current high HIV infections in Australia. Nevertheless, those men that are already infected with HIV should not be circumcised as it cannot be of any help to them (Dickson, 2009).
Conclusion
Nevertheless, Australian should be advised that although circumcision of infants’ males is important in reducing the rate of HIV infections, all Australian men whether circumcised or not should continue upholding the three main HIV preventive measures which are abstinence, being faithful to one partner as well as the use of a condom (Turner, 2007). This is because circumcision alone cannot curb HIV infections and circumcision is considered as being less effective than a condom in preventing HIV infections, especially when used well (Weller & Davis, 2002).
The Australian residents should be encouraged to avoid being overconfident with the HIV protective effect of circumcision. They should do so by not engaging in sexual promiscuous activities as circumcision on its own is not sufficient to protect them from HIV infections (Weiss, 2008).
Reference List
Dickson K. (2009). Male circumcision and risk of HIV infection in men. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Price, L. (2010). The effects of circumcision on the penis microbiome. New York: Prentice-Hall.
Turner, A. (2007). Men’s circumcision status and women’s risk of HIV acquisition. New York: Prentice-Hall.
Weiss H. (2008). Male circumcision for HIV prevention: from evidence to action. Journal of HIV/ Aids, 22, 5, 45-53.
Weller, S. and Davis, K. (2002). Condom effectiveness in reducing heterosexual HIV Transmission. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Williams, B. (2006). The Effectiveness of Circumcision in HIV Prevention. New York: Prentice-Hall.