Voluntary medical male circumcision for HIV prevention

Reaching the 2030 HIV incidence goals in high-burden settings, particularly in Eastern and Southern Africa, and then keeping HIV incidence at low levels, will require the right combination of effective prevention interventions at high coverage levels.

In 2007, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and WHO recommended voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) to reduce the risk of men acquiring HIV infection during heterosexual exposure. The recommendation was based on strong evidence from randomized controlled trials showing an approximately 60% lower risk.

Since 2007, more than 27 million VMMC procedures have been performed in the 15 priority countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, where about half of all new HIV infections occurred. In the past 10 years, other evidence-based HIV prevention options have also been scaled up, including oral pre-exposure prophylaxis and HIV antiretroviral therapy (with its secondary HIV prevention effect), along with already known interventions, such as condom use and post-exposure prophylaxis.

In the ongoing effort to end the AIDS epidemic, a re-examination of the evidence shows that VMMC remains an important intervention, alongside other effective behavioural and biomedical HIV prevention interventions. VMMC should be supported as a key HIV prevention option, within combination prevention for adolescents 15 years and older and adult men in settings with generalized HIV epidemics.

Voluntary medical male circumcision for HIV prevention in 14 priority countries in eastern and southern Africa

• VMMC progress brief 2022
  pdf, 822 KB

• VMMC progress brief 2019
  pdf, 277 KB

• VMMC progress brief 2018
  pdf, 100 KB

• VMMC progress brief 2017
  pdf, 213 KB

• VMMC progress brief 2016
  pdf, 124 KB

• VMMC progress brief 2015
  pdf, 96 KB