New York, NY —
Health officials held a public forum in Greenwich Village last night to discuss the use of circumcision as a possible strategy for fighting the spread of HIV and AIDS.
REPORTER: Circumcising heterosexual men in Africa greatly reduced the risk of contracting the disease, according to a recent study. The city's Health Department presented the study's results, answered questions and opened the floor to discussion. Audience member Gabriel Galindo says he appreciated the dialogue - but wasn't sure it would lead anywhere.
GALINDO: You can recommend condoms, you can recommend a lot of things and people are going to do what they want. You can recommend circumcision. How well it's gonna play with anyone, I highly doubt. There's gonna be a lot of uproar but no ones gonna follow through with it I think.
REPORTER: At times, the discussion got heated, with anti-circumcision activists accusing city officials of slanting the evidence. Health Commissioner Doctor Thomas Frieden said it's not clear how successful circumcision would be in reducing the spread of HIV among gay men, but that the procedure would be voluntary and would never be a substitute for abstinence, monogamy or condoms.