According to amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, more than two-thirds of all people living with HIV, some 24.7 million in total, live in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one of the benefits of circumcision, the removal of the foreskin of the penis, is a lower risk of HIV transmission. "There is compelling evidence that male circumcision reduces the risk of heterosexually acquired HIV infection in men by approximately 60 percent," the WHO states.
PrePex, a non-surgical circumcision unit and the first medical device in Israel's history to be approved by the WHO, allows for the performing of circumcisions on a mass scale, with no incisions, bleeding, or injected anesthesia.
PrePex has already been used in more than 250,000 procedures in 13 countries in Africa and Asia. In total, the company has delivered more than 1 million devices which, according to mathematical models, would prevent approximately 150,000 new HIV cases. In addition, there are currently over 1,000 PrePex trained healthcare providers, 16 PrePex training centers and the company is collaborating with more than 45 NGOs on the ground.
"PrePex provides an easier, more convenient and cost-effective way of conducting male circumcision, both for patients and for healthcare providers," Eddy Horowitz, CEO of Circ MedTech, the developer of PrePex, said in a statement. "With our introduction of the non-surgical device for infants and children, PrePex will improve the male circumcision experience for men, boys and infants worldwide."