Clearinghouse on Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention Web Site Launched

Research Triangle Park, NC -- February 23, 2009 -- The Clearinghouse on Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention -- www.malecircumcision.org -- was launched today. The Web site is designed to generate and share authoritative information about the role of male circumcision in HIV prevention.

The Clearinghouse was initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC), and Family Health International (FHI).

"The Clearinghouse will serve as a virtual resource that provides a 'one-stop-shop' for the most recent news, research, and resources on the use of male circumcision to prevent HIV," says Dr. Kim Eva Dickson, Medical Officer, HIV Prevention in the Health Sector at WHO in Geneva. "This site will fulfill the needs of the international public health community involved in male circumcision for HIV prevention -- including scientists, civil society groups, policy-makers, health providers, and programme managers."

The Clearinghouse will provide evidence-based guidance to support the delivery of safe male circumcision services as one component in a comprehensive approach to HIV-prevention services. "It will be continually updated with emerging information on country progress in expanding access to safe male circumcision services, including lessons learned in implementation," says Dr. Catherine Hankins, Chief Scientific Adviser to UNAIDS. "Providing access to tools and guidance, the Clearinghouse is an essential Web site aid for all those working on male circumcision for HIV prevention."

Visitors to the Clearinghouse will find:

A browsable database of hundreds of scientific abstracts and full-text articles

An inventory of research activities on male circumcision

Tools and guidelines for provider training and programme scale-up

Evidence-based protocols and guidelines

A compendium of better and best practices

User-friendly summaries of advocacy issues and civil society engagement

An opportunity to sign up for an RSS feed on news related to male circumcision

A global mechanism for exchanging and integrating information on male circumcision programmes and associated services

Experts from leading institutions around the world have reviewed information on the Clearinghouse including:

Family Health International

Harvard University School of Public Health

JHPIEGO (Johns Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynecology and Obstetrics)

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

UNAIDS

University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health

World Health Organization

"Circumcising men is among the most promising public health tools to reduce new HIV infections in areas most affected by the epidemic," says Al Siemens, PhD, CEO of FHI. "We are proud to have helped produce such a practical and evidence-based resource for health professionals interested in improving men's access to high-quality male circumcision services as a component of comprehensive HIV-prevention efforts."

The Clearinghouse also features user-friendly, regularly updated pages on advocacy issues that are tools for community stakeholders. "To optimize the benefits of male circumcision for HIV prevention, advocates, activists, community, and grassroots organizations need to be involved every step of the way," says Mitchell Warren, Executive Director of AVAC. "This is an exciting and much-needed resource for sharing information, ideas and approaches to an emerging strategy."