The UN AIDS body UNAIDS is carrying on studies in seven African countries including Zambia to show how circumcision substantially reduces the risks of HIV infections, according to Zambia Daily Mail on Saturday.

In Uganda and Kenya, about 8,000 men are involved in the study, whose interim results are expected later this month and could establish if male circumcision can be used in fighting AIDS, UNAIDS adviser Tomas Lundstrom was quoted as saying.

He said five southern African countries hard-hit by AIDS are encouraging men to go for circumcision after a study shows that it dramatically reduces the risks of HIV infection.

The report said that a three-year study in a South African township shows that the circumcision reduced the risks of HIV infection by 60 percent.

"By removing the foreskin, you are reducing the transmission route of HIV. The foreskin is fertile ground for the virus," Lundstrom said.

But the local newspaper did not report when and where the adviser made the speech.

Source: Xinhua