Using a 10-year time horizon, the study put the cost of averting one HIV infection in high HIV prevalence areas between $150 and $900.
Published in the open access journal ''PLoS Medicine', it is based on findings in meetings convened by the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (SACEMA).
First-line treatment costs typically exceed $7,000 over a lifetime, and double that if second-line therapies are used, the report said.
With each circumcision procedure costing between $30 and $60, with neonatal circumcision costing only one-third that amount, “circumcising sexually active males of any age is likely to be cost saving,†it stressed.
However, the new publication pointed out that male circumcision may have only a minimal impact on curbing HIV transmission among men who have sex with men.
Additionally, despite studies confirming that circumcision could decrease female-to-male HIV transmission by 60 per cent, the procedure does not directly protect women from the virus, the report said.#
MALE CIRCUMCISION COST-EFFECTIVE MEANS TO PREVENT HIV
Special correspondent - 10-09-2009 09:43 GMT-0000
New York: Male circumcision is a cost-effective means to prevent the spread of HIV, according to a new United Nations-backed report, which found that one HIV infection could be averted for every five to 15 procedures performed on heterosexual men.