Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) remains the only one-time intervention for reducing the risk of HIV infection. The procedure provides lifelong partial protection against female-to-male HIV transmission and should be used as part of wider sexual and reproductive health service provision for boys and men.
Scaling up VMMC in combination with condom promotion, pre-exposure prophylaxis, HIV testing and prompt initiation of antiretroviral therapy can have a major impact on HIV epidemics in high-prevalence settings. In Malawi, more than 165 000 circumcisions were conducted in 2017, more than double the number conducted in 2014 and up from just 589 in 2008.
In 2016, the United Nations General Assembly set a target of voluntarily circumcising an additional 25 million men in high-incidence countries by 2020, or 5 million men per year.
