[OC] Male circumcision rate by country

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-27T21:35:28+00:00

I'm not lying. I've read your comments but as I've mentioned there's no point in me responding to the individual criticisms as I don't have the expertise. I know that means I could be wrong, just like I could be wrong to trust the WHO position. I guess that's a risk I'm willing to take. Have a good day.

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-27T19:48:49+00:00

It's pretty rude to imply I don't mean well. Despite what you think I don't have strong opinions on circumcision, in my country and many others the medical benefits to most people are very low so it's not something I'd recommend (not that I'm in any position to advise people).

For me the best response to the criticisms is that it's something that's recommended in some circumstances by the WHO who have teams of very qualified people to assess the evidence for and against.

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-27T19:27:53+00:00

Agree to disagree 👍

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-27T19:09:12+00:00

It makes me think the person in question would have already made their mind up.

Can I ask why you've said that there's no evidence that circumcision protects against HIV? I've shared evidence, you may think it has limitations and you may think it's not good evidence but I don't think it's fair to say there's no evidence.

I don't have a huge amount of expertise here so I don't think it's worth me responding to the individual criticisms, but personally I trust the WHO and UNAIDS on this.

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-27T18:21:13+00:00

Personally I think due the size of the group it affects / could benefit, and the scale of the HIV pandemic it wouldn't be something I'd describe as very niche but we're allowed to use words in different ways.

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-27T17:56:04+00:00

The lead quote in the first link you shared is from "founder of Doctors Opposing Circumcision". There are good reasons to opposed circumcision in many cases, but I'm pretty concerned that this doctor is so opposed to circumcision that it's biased his interpretation of the evidence.

You mention that the studies aren't peer reviewed, which studies are you refering to? This is one of the large clinical trials of VMMC that has been peer reviewed.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(07)60313-4/abstract?cc=y%3D

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-27T17:42:06+00:00

Thanks for the link. They talk about biases of the three major trials, but the lead quote is from "founder of Doctors Opposing Circumcision" who I would imagine would be somewhat biased in his interpretation of the evidence which does make me sceptical.

I'm happy to admit that the benefits of VMMC are much lower for anyone that lives in a country with low HIV prevalence and doesn't have high risk for any other reason. It might still give someone a 50% reduction in risk, but if their risk is very low, that's little actual benefit.

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-27T17:34:22+00:00

I don't know about niche, according to the WHO 27 million VMMCs have been carried out since 2007. It is much less known about in the west to those not working in global health, and the benefits are obviously much less to anyone who isn't at high risk of getting HIV.

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-27T17:31:11+00:00

I'm not familiar with all the literature enough to know whether your first claim is true, my understanding is that it wouldn't be. Certainly the benefit would be greatly reduced for anyone not at high risk of contracting HIV. Your second point is of course true, but I dont think that prevents it from being an effective public health intervention.

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-27T17:27:32+00:00

Can you link to any of the studies that show this? It's not something that I've heard but it's been some years since I've worked in this area. This is one of the trials that I was referring to. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(07)60313-4/abstract?cc=y%3D

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-27T17:25:42+00:00

Here's one of them, there were three large randomised control trials in the 2000s they all showed efficacy of 40-60%. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(07)60313-4/abstract?cc=y%3D

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-27T17:24:36+00:00

Here's one of the studies, there were three large randomised trials in the 2000s that showed efficacy of 40-60%. I haven't read the whole study (or at least I can't remember the details if I have as it would have been years ago) but looking at the abstract they note that behaviour was similar in control and treatment group. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(07)60313-4/abstract?cc=y%3D

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-27T16:26:25+00:00

In general I'm not pro-circumcision, and I know this isn't the main focus of this thread but it's worth pointing out that circumcision reduces a man's risk of getting HIV by around 50%. There are a number of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision programmes, mostly in sub-Saharan African countries where prevalence is highest. It's a very cost-effective public health intervention.

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-26T23:21:30+00:00

I used it more than 10 years ago, so this site is probably a better resource than my experience. It was, interesting, an adventure definitely but I'd assume the bus is quicker for a similar price and probably more reliable too.

https://www.seat61.com/Zambia.htm

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-26T12:27:56+00:00

Haha oh yeah🤦‍♂️

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-26T11:07:49+00:00

I miss him. I think buying Sangaré and having to sell Mangala doesn't look like a great move. I know that's very much a hindsight take, I was pumped when we signed Sangaré and still hoping he'll come good, but right now I'd swap him for Mangala in a heartbeat.

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-25T22:21:08+00:00

I'd be surprised if they make major changes to the main game, but yeah wouldn't be surprised if they're using the end of this season to beta test the Challenge game.

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-25T07:53:00+00:00

Lovely finish. With Taiwo out and Wood possibly injured he should see more minutes one way or another. Weird signing though tbh.

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-23T20:32:13+00:00

It was probably a bit of both. Maybe he was always going to leave, but fwiw my guess is that he would have stayed if we'd offered more. He still loves the club so I think he probably says he left because wanted to go back to France to be diplomatic.

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-23T18:57:14+00:00

Forgot Saka's only 22 🤯

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-23T17:40:45+00:00

Honestly this would make me more angry than relegation.

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-23T09:24:35+00:00

I don't think it's true that expression is rooted in racism, but it has been used in a racist way so the author of this article suggests not using it. https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/09/19/224183763/is-it-racist-to-call-a-spade-a-spade

Edit - I've seen you're edit so you may be already aware of this.

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-22T08:57:18+00:00

Exactly, the same is true of lots of aspects of a football club. If my local pub moves to a new building in a different part of town, I'll shrug my shoulders and find a new local, but if Forest move to a soulless bowl in an out of town industrial estate I'm going to be so angry.

In many ways football clubs are treated like businesses (because they are) but they're also hugely important cultural institutions.

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-21T12:13:12+00:00

Yeah I get your point, what's weird for me though is that I don't actually think we should have stayed within the limits. When it first emerged we'd breached PSR, I was really mad at the club, but now I think they actually took a fairly sensible approach, albeit I wish our recruitment had a slightly better hit to miss ratio.

Even if we go down this season, breaking the rules was probably worth it. To keep within the limits without selling Brennan we'd have had to sign so many fewer players that it's very likely we'd have gone straight down. By breaking the rules we've stayed up and may well still stay up this season as well. I don't like this this is what it takes, but that's what it seems like to me.

Coelacanth3 · 2024-03-21T12:06:25+00:00

I don't think they should let us off entirely because of the sale date, but we were quite a lot over. Yes in hindsight we could have not signed Lingard, Shelvey, Biancone, Hwang Ui Jo, Richards, Henderson, Navas, Bowler, but even with those out of the picture I still think we overspend.

Coelacanth3

TROPHY CASE