12% Of South Africans are living with HIV /AIDS because of foolishness

South Africa may turn to an Israeli
circumcision device to reduce the number of young males who die
in botched initiation ceremonies, provoking an outcry from union
allies of the ruling party who support sanctions against the Jewish
state.
Every year, dozens of teenaged South African males die of blood
loss or infection in traditional circumcision practices during the
initiation ceremonies which are a key rite of passage to manhood,
especially among the Xhosa nation.
Department of health spokesman Joe Maila told Reuters that the
government was still studying the device, known as PrePex, and
had not yet decided whether or not to officially sanction its use
and make it widely available.
The powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), a
key ally of the ruling African National Congress, said it was
opposed to the government doing any business with Israel
because of alleged human rights violations.


"We have a problem that the device comes from Israel. We need to
boycott everything that comes from that pariah state," Sizwe
Pamla, a spokesman for a public sector union that is part of
COSATU, told Reuters.
The non-surgical disposable device PrePex, endorsed by the World
Health Organisation (WHO), has been piloted at several non-profit
sites across South Africa but has not yet been introduced in
government hospitals.
PrePex, developed by Israel firm Circ MedTech, allows
circumcisions to be performed by nurses, which will free up
doctors and operating theatres in busy state facilities.
Pamla said if PrePex was introduced in state hospitals, nurses
affiliated to COSATU will refuse to perform circumcisions using the
device.
South Africa has encouraged medical circumcisions over the less
safe traditional practices and believes it could also help in the
fight against HIV/Aids, which has infected at least 12 percent of
the population.
According to the WHO, male circumcision reduces the risk of
heterosexually acquiring HIV in men by about 60 percent.
PrePex is being used in a number of African countries including
Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya.