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Advancing the Use of Women’s
HIV-prevention Products
Today, globally, between 17 and 21 million women are living with HIV.
According to UNAIDS, women account for 60 percent of new infections in
sub-Saharan Africa, and young women are being infected at three times
the rate of young men. Clearly, solutions that focus on men alone won’t
work, and insisting on use of the male condom often is not within
women’s power. The only currently available female-initiated prevention
product, the female condom, is accessible to only a tiny proportion of
the women at risk of HIV.
Any strategy to slow and contain the AIDS pandemic must include
expanding both the availability and women’s use of prevention
technologies. The unequal status of girls and women in many societies is
central to the development of meaningful protection strategies. Women’s
economic dependence on men, discriminatory cultural practices such as
early marriage, and sexual violence and coercion leave many women
vulnerable to HIV and AIDS. Several types of research are needed to
understand how best to introduce female-initiated prevention products
within the context of such practices. With a generous grant from the
Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Population Council has initiated
a project to develop and test innovative approaches to making available
products designed to prevent HIV transmission, such as the female condom
and microbicides, which are currently being tested in clinical trials
for their safety and efficacy in preventing transmission of HIV when
used prior to intercourse.
The research, to be conducted in sub-Saharan Africa, aims to increase
access to and use of the female condom and to prepare for accelerated
introduction of other female-controlled protection products, such as
microbicides, as they become available (see accompanying articles "Carraguard
trial progresses to data analysis" and "Insights
for microbicides introduction"). The results can be used to begin preventing new
infections immediately while simultaneously laying a foundation for an
expanded choice of HIV-prevention technologies for women to use.
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