In the past 15 years, studies in Africa have found that
circumcision lowers men's risk of being infected with HIV during heterosexual
intercourse by 50 to 60 percent. Being circumcised also reduces men's risk of
infection with the herpes virus and human papillomavirus.
Those health benefits prompted the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention's proposed recommendation that doctors counsel parents
of baby boys and teenagers, as well as men, on the benefits and risks of
circumcision.
"The compiling of the different data sources may really
be sufficient for someone who is a heterosexual male to consider the benefit of
circumcision," Dr. Susan Blank, a pediatrician and chairwoman of the
American Academy of Pediatrics' circumcision task force, told Shots.
In 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics said for the
first time that the benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks, and that
insurers should pay for the procedure. npr
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