‘€œHow did you measure the sexual satisfaction of the women partner?’€ a delegate from Zimbabwe asked while a delegate from Botswana quizzed the researcher on whether they had reports from who thought the ‘€œcircumcised penis looks ugly, it’€™s awful’€.

Three research studies have shown unequivocally that male circumcision leads to a 50 to 60% reduction in the transmission of HIV to the male partner. It has shown no protective benefit to the woman partner.

Godfrey Kigozi of the Rakai Health Sciences Programme in Uganda described how they had recorded the sexual satisfaction of 455 women between the ages of 15 and 49 who were partners of men who had been circumcised as part of the initial trials to test the efficacy of male circumcision.

Researchers collected information from the women before their partners were circumcised and after with the women self reporting the changes in sexual pleasure.

Around 57% of the women reported no change in sexual pleasure while 39% reported an improvement. A total of 3% reported less satisfaction.

Kigozi said they quizzed the women on why their sexual satisfaction was less and they blamed it on the fact that the man’€™s sexual desire had decreased and that their partner was struggling to achieve an erection.

The vast majority who reported improved sexual satisfaction placed improved hygiene and the fact that their partner took longer to achieve an orgasm, resulting in longer sex, top of their list.

On a more serious note, Tim Lane of the University of California San Francisco reported on observational data from the Soweto Men’€™s Study which was showing that there was a lower risk of HIV infection among circumcised men who have sex with men (MSM).

Early indications are that the odds of infection among uncircumcised MSM reporting insertive anal intercourse with male partners was four and half times higher than among insertive circumcised MSM.

A staggering 40% of the men studied reported also having sex with women. Lane said it was important to consider a randomized controlled trial of circumcision among MSM.

Deputy Director General for Strategic Health Programmes in the South African health department Dr Yogan Pillay said he was interested in learning about experiences from other countries as ‘€œwe are in the process of finalising a policy around male circumcision’€.