In his joint address to Congress on Tuesday, President Trump took a jab at a number of foreign aid programs. “Just listen to some of the appalling waste,” he said and then rattled off a list of examples, including: “$10 million for male circumcision in Mozambique.”
He’s referring to one country but USAID — the United States Agency for International Development — has funded male circumcision programs in a number of countries in southern and eastern Africa through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program.
Public health experts and HIV prevention advocates agree that voluntary medical male circumcisions — a procedure where a medical provider removes the foreskin of a penis from a volunteer patient — are a highly effective prevention for HIV. The procedure has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of HIV transmission from women to men and is a cost-effective HIV prevention intervention in countries with high infection rates. MORE