Male circumcision and HIV acquisition: reinvestigating the evidence from young men in Kisumu, Kenya

In this replication study, Eric W. Djimeu, Jeffrey E. Korte, and Flor A. Calvo reevaluate some of the strongest evidence supporting HIV-related male circumcision interventions in the developing world. The replication researchers reproduce the original study Male circumcision for HIV prevention in young men in Kisumu, Kenya: a randomised controlled trial by Bailey et al. (2007). The original paper is extremely policy relevant, as it is one of the three publications used to support male-circumcision scale-up in eastern and southern Africa.

The replication researchers find very similar results to the original paper in their pure replication. The replication researchers proceed to test the robustness of the results through a number of measurement and estimation techniques. They conclude the original results are robust to testing for heterogeneous treatment effects by age and to a sensitivity analysis center around potential missing data concerns. In their measurement and estimation analysis the replication researchers detect the presence of risk compensation within the treatment group, which differs from the original findings.