China’s most unpopular invention? WHO approves disposable circumcision device
The ShangRing.
Meet the ‘ShangRing’, a new Chinese-made circumcision device that was this week approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the ongoing global fight against HIV/AIDS.
The product brochure states: “Since 2006, the ShangRing has been safely used to circumcise over 600,000 male adults, adolescents and young boys in both China and Africa.”
The WHO, whose ‘prequalification’ of the product effectively gives the green light to international organisations to use it, says that circumcision can reduce the risk of HIV infection in men by 60 percent.
The device uses two concentric rings that clamp together to remove the foreskin with “minimal bleeding”. The brochure does not explain why the average adult male would choose to put themselves through this procedure.
As the Wall Street Journal reports: “It’s unclear how widely used the newly green-lighted Chinese products will be. Elected adult circumcision, though it may prevent the spread of disease, is rare due to cultural norms and fear of pain, health experts say.”
Even the device’s inventor Shang Jianzhong did not part with his foreskin voluntarily, but had to have it removed because of an illness.
The China Daily reports: “Shang always laughs when he recalls the circumcision he had 13 years ago to treat an ailment, but the 60-year-old’s experience was far from humorous.”
Traditionally, circumcision is not commonly practiced in China, so this is a product that may not be flying off the shelves, within its borders at least.
