Women and HIV - Part 1

HIV Prevention for women

This has been a tricky area in HIV prevention because many women are denied any decision making power when it comes to how, when and with whom they have sex.

File picture of a female condom

HIV prevention experts and activists have hailed the female condom as the only female-initiated HIV prevention tool currently available, claiming that the FC can empower women to become more involved in condom negotiation.

However the FC is more expensive to manufacture and often hard to source. Political woes have also dogged the FC; in 2011 a judge had to intervene in the awarding of a tender, stopping unapproved female condoms becoming available to the public.

it is clear that more awareness, education and even political interventions will have to put in place before the female condom becomes a household name.