Male Circumcision Consortium

The Male Circumcision Consortium (MCC) is run by FHI 360 (Family Health International), a group that receives sponsorship from the Gates Foundation. The MCC runs The Clearinghouse on Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention (malecircumcision.org). They describe themselves as a "collaborative effort to generate and share information resources with the international public health community, civil society groups, health policy makers, and programme managers."

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Goals The Clearinghouse exists to expand global access to information and resources on male circumcision for HIV prevention. The Clearinghouse aims to provide current evidence-based guidance, information and resources to support the delivery of safe male circumcision services in countries that choose to scale up male circumcision as one component of comprehensive HIV prevention services. (Male Circumcision Consortium website)

Their actual goal is to function as a propaganda arm of the pro-circ agenda in Africa and to function as a marketing tool for the mass circumcision campaign. The research on their site is heavily biased in favor of circumcision. Their funder, FHI360, is a "social marketing" outfit, essentially a PR firm established for the purpose of changing people's behavior for ostensibly socially positive ends. According to their website, FHI "serves as the webmaster for the Clearinghouse on Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention, and in partnership with WHO, UNAIDS and AVAC, develops and selects content for the site."

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Goals The Male Circumcision Consortium (MCC) works with the Government of Kenya and other partners to prevent HIV and save lives by expanding access to safe and voluntary male circumcision services. FHI, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and EngenderHealth are partners in the Male Circumcision Consortium. The MCC is funded by a grant to FHI from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from August 2007 to February 2013. The Male Circumcision Consortium's objectives are to: Support the Government of Kenya and other partners in developing and implementing a national male circumcision strategy. Expand a male circumcision research and training center in western Kenya to train providers, build the capacity of health facilities, and monitor clinical outcomes. Identify and address any misunderstandings about male circumcision for HIV prevention. Conduct research to identify the safest, most effective ways to provide voluntary male circumcision as part of a comprehensive package of HIV prevention services. (Male Circumcision Consortium website)

Their website identifies the following institutions as providing "review of materials written for the Clearinghouse":

• Harvard University School of Public Health - home of Dr. Daniel T. Halperin at the AIDS Prevention Research Project
• Jhpiego (Johns Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynecology and Obstetrics) - Johns Hopkins is the home of Ronald Gray, director of the Rakai Project
• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine - which has published a couple pro-circ studies by Helen Weiss et al.
• University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health - home of Robert Bailey, who's behind the big African RCTs

The website describes its other partners:

• WHO
• UNAIDS
• AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC)
• FHI (Family Health International)
• Futures Institute
• The Global Health Technical Assistance Project by USAID
• Marie Stopes International
• Operation Abraham Collaborative (OAC)
• Population Services International (PSI)
• Health Policy Initiative by USAID
• http://www.malecircumcision.org/about