City Officials Consider Circumcision Campaign To Reduce HIV Contraction

City health officials are considering a campaign to urge circumcision for men at a high risk of contracting HIV after recent international studies found the procedure can dramatically reduce the risk.

But Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday that he was still not sure what role the city should have in the issue, "whether it's something that the government should be involved in, or just giving advice and making sure that people get educated."

The city health department has asked some gay rights groups and community organizations to discuss circumcision, removal of the foreskin of the penis, with their members and has approached the agency that runs city hospitals and health clinics about the possibility of offering the procedure for free to uninsured men. However, a spokeswoman for the hospital agency, the Health and Hospitals Corporation, said it had not decided.