Brendon Marotta: In a new draft proposal, PEPFAR says they will end their infant circumcision program in Africa.

/ Mike Buchanan

Brendon Marotta was the director of the film American Circiumcision, available to view at no cost to subscribers to Netflix and Amazon Prime. I’ve just received this email from him:

In a new draft proposal, PEPFAR says they will end their infant circumcision program in Africa.

Brendon Marotta, director of the documentary American Circumcision, reveals what PEPFAR is planning in his original reporting here:
In the documentary American Circumcision, we covered the studies that claimed circumcision reduces HIV risk, and the mass African circumcision campaign carried out based on those studies.
Recently, PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) released a draft for PEPFAR 2020 Country Operational Plan Guidance for all PEPFAR Countries which stated “Based on analysis of adverse events and impact on future incidence, circumcision of males under age 15 (including EIMC) and those not reaching Tanner stage 3 development will no longer be funded by PEPFAR.”
In other words:
PEPFAR is stopping funding for infant circumcision because the botch rate was too high.
But that’s not the only bombshell in these new guidelines…
PEPFAR had been using the Mogen clamp on infants – an unsafe circumcision device that was sued out of business after causing too many botches.
(In our film American Circumcision, we cover this court case against the manufacturer of the Mogen clamp.)
PEPFAR’s new guidelines state:
“The role of infant VMMC may be revisited once modeling data are available to determine potential benefits, but current techniques using the Mogen clamp will not be supported because of the rate and severity of adverse events.”
In other words – PEPFAR has decided to stop using the Mogen clamp, a device sued out of business for causing botches, because it caused too many botches.
This report leaves some questions unanswered. Why did PEPFAR pick a circumcision instrument sued out of business for causing botches? Who picked the Mogen clamp? What approval process did it go through? How many botches were there? How many botches were there? What percentage did they consider a high percent? How did they decide to stop?
Although the end of PEPFAR-supported infant circumcision in Africa is a win for Intactivists, the new plan contains a potentially dangerous proposal….PEPFAR is planning to use the ShangRing circumcision device on African population to find out what the botch rate of the ShangRing is.
From the report:
“Programs may propose exceptions to the new age policy for the routine use of only the ShangRing device in adolescents aged 10-14 years/below Tanner stage 4. These must include plans for long-term enhanced safety monitoring in this group with complete followup within 14 days, recognizing that very large volumes may be needed to identify any increased risks. The ShangRing mechanism may protect against risks of glans injury and fistula for immature genitalia, but sufficient volumes have not yet been done in VMMC settings to rule out other injury risks in young adolescents that may be similarly uncommon, especially during the device’s in situ period.”
In other words, PEPFAR wants to do a lot of circumcisions with the ShangRing to find out what the risk is.
Brendon Marotta writes:“Very large volumes may be needed to identify any increased risks” is an INSANE statement.
The way to find out if a medical device is safe is not to experiment on millions of African children.
Ring devices are known to be unsafe. A pediatric urologist in my documentary American Circumcision, who does both circumcision and botch repair, said he regularly sees damage from these types of devices and believes they should not be on the market.
You don’t need to botch millions of children to find out if your medical device known to cause botches will cause botches!
However, these new guidelines are only a draft, and open for public comment until Dec 13.
PEPFAR says on their website: “Your comments on the guidance are welcome and encouraged, and it is recommended that you are as specific as possible when submitting feedback.”
In other words, PEPFAR will only read specific comments on specific parts of the guidelines. They are not interested in your long philosophical rant. They may not even be interested in public comments at all, and their request for comments is only a formality.
However, if you want to leave a specific well thought-out comment regarding section “6.2.5.1. Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision”, Brendon Marotta suggests:

  • Offer support for their decision to end their infant circumcision campaign: Often, public officials only hear from activists when they are angry. When people do the right thing, they deserve support and praise. Putting an end to a program that was hurting children is a good idea, and you should make sure any message you send reinforces that decision on their part.
  • Ask for more data on adverse events:  How many adverse events were there? What types of adverse events? To what age children? PEPFAR claims to have done 22.8 million circumcisions? At even a 1% botch rate, that is 200,000 damaged children. The public has a right to know this data and the exact results of how their tax dollars have been spent.
  • Tell PEPFAR not test the ShangRing on African people to find out what the botch rate is: The way to find out if a medical device is dangerous is NOT to test it on vulnerable populations. PEPFAR’s plan to use the ShangRing on Africans to find out what the risks are is human experimentation and a clear human rights violation that should be opposed.

You can leave a respectful, well-thought-out comment on PEPFAR’s guidelines here:
Brendon Marotta will continue to report on this issue on his blog and twitter. Follow him here:

You can subscribe to Brendon’s blog posts here:
https://www.brendonmarotta.com/subscribe/
P.S. One of our deleted scenes talks about abuses in African circumcision campaigns. We took it out, because we wanted to focus on the science. However, you can watch it in our deleted scenes here:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/circmoviebonus
Our deleted scenes also include extended interviews with multiple subjects, include the authors of the studies used to justify the African circumcision campaign.
Seen the film? Now check out over twenty hours of bonus features here.
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/circmoviebonus
Watch the film
https://circumcisionmovie.com/see-the-film/Signed DVDs & Screening Packages
https://circumcisionmovie.com/shop/
Watch the bonus features
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/circmoviebonus
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
Instagram
Website
Copyright © 2019 American Circumcision Film, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:

American Circumcision Film

1000 Ednam Center, Suite 300

Charlottesville, Virginia 22903-4615

Leave a comment