Fighting against AIDS

KYLE BERGER

On Dec. 6, Dr. Neil Pollock will be leading a small team on an overseas mission to Rwanda. Pollock is one of the top infant circumcision specialists in the world and that procedure just happens to be one of the most effective ways to fight AIDS, a disease that is ravaging that African country, among others.

"A lot of scientific papers have shown a very strong connection between circumcision and a reduced transmission of AIDS," Pollock said, before explaining that the foreskin serves as an easy receptor for such a virus. "In fact, there is about a 60 per cent reduction of AIDS transmission with circumcision."

Pollock has developed a specialized process for infant circumcision that he suggested is virtually pain free. Pollock believes that, with the proper tools, he can teach the method to Rwandan doctors. The hope is that circumcision will become more accepted and accessible to the infants there, thus reducing the number of AIDS victims in future generations.

"Knowing the high rate of AIDS in Rwanda, and with my background, I started to think about how I could be helpful for that situation," Pollock explained. "I made some inquiries to hospitals and medical professionals in Rwanda and they explained that they could definitely use help in the area on infant circumcision surgical technique."

He researched how the procedure was being executed by Rwandan doctors and was told that the doctors were using scissors to cut the foreskin. Pollock soon realized that his method – which he calls the "mogen technique," based on the tool he uses – could change people's willingness to have their infants circumcised.

Pollock first linked up with David Patrick at the Centre of Disease Control (CDC) and began to make plans for a mission to Rwanda. Pollock and Patrick will travel to the country with Julie Schneiderman, also with the CDC, as well as with Dr. Tom Kinahan, a Kelowna-based urologist.

Before he leaves, Pollock is trying to raise as much funding as possible, so that he can bring a critical mass of tools and supplies to spread his work throughout the country. With the goal of raising at least $100,000, Pollock hopes to supply at least 25 surgical centres, while continuing to deliver supplies on an ongoing basis.

Pollock knows there is risk in his upcoming journey.

"My son asked why I don't just train doctors and send them back to Rwanda, like I have done with others I've trained from other countries," Pollock said. "I explained to him how AIDS is killing so many parents there. I told him to imagine that on his hockey team, of the 15 guys on his team, if three or four of them had one or both of their parents die from a disease that your dad could help prevent, wouldn't you want me to do that?

"When you are sitting on an antidote to a medical problem and you realize how helpful you can be, how can you not go there and do it," he asked rhetorically. "My family has been very supportive."

For Pollock, this mission is also a spiritual connection to his work. He became focused on the practice of circumcision for children after various local rabbis suggested he train to become a mohel. After studying the customs and traditions locally, then formally at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, Pollock became motivated to develop the pain-free system he uses today.

"I feel like I am taking it full circle, from something that started with a spiritual origin," he said. "Now I'm going to Rwanda to have another kind of spiritual mission."

Pollock is also a specialist in no-scalpel, no-needle vasectomies, performing approximately 4,500 procedures a year, according to his estimate, more than 50 per cent of vasectomy and circumcision surgeries taking place in British Columbia. He conducts his brit milah service separately from his surgical practice and, rather than accepting payment for that, Pollock has each family donate money to either his United Way or Jewish Community Foundation charitable funds.

Donations to the Rwanda mission can be sent to Pollock's home at 4943 Connaught Dr., Vancouver, B.C., V6M 3E8. Cheques should be written to the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (Rwanda circumcision project). A tax receipt will be issued for all donations. Any donations made before Dec. 1 will contribute to the stock of supplies Pollock's team will bring with them.

Kyle Berger is a freelance journalist living in Richmond.

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