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LILONGWE, 13 April 2010 (PlusNews) - Male circumcision (MC), which can reduce HIV among men by up to 60 percent, is controversial in Malawi and government has yet to implement mass male circumcision. But a chain of private clinics has rolled out the measure with some surprising results.

Banja La Mtsogolo (BLM) – Future Family in the local Chichewa language - a private family planning organization, rolled out the procedure at its network of 30 national clinics in 2009 and is the only organization offering it as part of an HIV prevention package.

The UN World Health Organization recommends circumcision and Malawi's National HIV Prevention Strategy 2009-2013 acknowledges its role, but falls short of outlining a clear policy.

Brendan Hayes, the head of BLM, admitted that MC has been a hard sell.

"In Malawi, you've got very big differences in the HIV epidemic from north to south and those differences don’t correlate to differences in circumcision prevalence. High prevalence rates are in the southern part of the country, which is also where we have the most circumcision ... but you're still only talking about one in three men," he told IRIN/PlusNews.

"These differences aren't totally inexplicable but I think it's made people more cautious about moving forward with male circumcision."