Reporter Gets Circumcised to Fight AIDS

Posted by GottaLaff , Brave New Films at 9:10 AM on December 1, 2007.

This post, written by GottaLaff, originally appeared on Cliff Schecter's Brave New Films

You might say he got right to the point:

A southern African radio correspondent has been receiving a flood of text messages and cell phone calls -- some from offended listeners and readers.

All because Kennedy Gondwe chose to get circumcised to protect himself from AIDS, and took the British Broadcasting Corp.'s radio and Web audience through the procedure with him Friday.

[C]ircumcision can significantly reduce men's chances of contracting the virus that causes AIDS. U.N. health agencies followed up with an endorsement, but stressed that the procedure offers only partial protection and that abstinence, condom use, having few partners and delaying the first sexual experience are all among the steps that need to be encouraged.

Condom use? Don't tell the Bushies!

Gondwe, on the radio piece and in an online diary Friday, recounts his Nov. 22 procedure. Listeners can hear him gasp as a doctor injects him with a local anesthetic, but he assures them the procedure is otherwise painless. He was up, walking to his car and driving himself home soon afterward.

Tagged as: bush, africa, aids

GottaLaff is a regular blogger for Cliff Schecter's Blog