City Urges Circumcision for Men at Risk of AIDS

The city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is planning a campaign to encourage men at high risk of AIDS to get circumcised in light of the World Health Organization’s endorsement of the procedure as an effective way to prevent the disease.

In the United States, "New York City remains the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic," Dr. Thomas Frieden, the city’s health commissioner, said in an interview. Referring to HIV, he said, "In some subpopulations, you have 10 to 20 percent prevalence rates, just as they do in parts of Africa."

His department has started asking some community groups and gay rights organizations to discuss circumcision with their supporters, and has asked Health & Hospitals Corp., which runs city hospitals and clinics, to perform the procedure free for men without health insurance.

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