Report:National Workshop on Prevention Options for Women

[Guest guest]

Report of the National Workshop on Prevention Options for Women: Female Condom

and Microbicide. 10th -11th October, New Delhi.

NGOs working for prevention of HIV/AIDS resolved to create awareness in India

about prevention options for women around the country. In a first meeting of

community stakeholders, the participants discussed the urgent need to expand

the range of HIV prevention methods designed for women.

The two day meeting on October 10th and 11th was organized in New Delhi by

Gujarat AIDS Awareness and Prevention (GAP), Unit, Indian Network of NGOs

working on HIV/AIDS (IN N) and PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in

Health), India with support from the Global Campaign for Microbicides (Path,

Washington D.C.).

This meeting was attended by representatives from several NGOs working on the

issues of Reproductive Health for men and women, HIV/AIDS, sexuality and gender

issues, women empowerment, as well as representatives from National AIDS

Control Organization (NACO), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, UNAIDS,

UNFPA, AIDS Society of India, National Institute of Pharmacological Education

and Research (NIPER ), Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), National AIDS

Research Institute (NARI), the Female Health Foundation and Hindustan Latex Ltd.

All present at the meeting are prospective players in making women focused HIV

prevention options accessible and acceptable in India.

In her welcome address, Dr. Radium Bhattacharya, President - IN N shared that

while we work to expand access to women focused HIV prevention methods, it is

important to create an atmosphere of collaboration amongst us, so that we can

bring progress in this domain much faster .

Detailed presentations giving information on microbicides and female condom

programmes in India increased knowledge levels of the participants. Research

status in respect to micobicides and female condom trials in India were the

important highlights of the meeting. Accessibility and cost challenges were

discussed in detail.

The participants developed a policy and advocacy strategy to reach out to the

communities to create awareness about microbicides and female condom. A

working group was formed to implement the strategy. This working group will be

meeting periodically to monitor the progress of the strategy.

The working group is represented by experts in the field of advocacy, research,

institutes ready for further research programs, media, and appropriate

representation from NGOs working on women issues including human rights, women

empowerment and HIV/AIDS programmes.

The meeting also took note of the recent studies that have predicted an

explosion of HIV in India, with a particular impact on women., who are both

biologically and socially more vulnerable to men. While existing prevention

strategies and messages that focus on abstinence, mutual monogamy and male

condom use can have an impact, they do not adequately address many aspects of

many a women's reality. For many women gender roles, economic dependency, and

lack of knowledge about sex and HIV risk prevent them from implementing safer

sex strategies. For many women, gender roles, economic dependency, and lack of

knowledge about sex and HIV, prevent them from implementing safer sex

strategies. Prevention methods that women initiate or use themselves could

greatly improve their ability to protect themselves from HIV and other STIs when

other prevention stratetegies are resisted or even fail.

India is also poised to become a strategic leader among HIV infected countries

in making women - focused prevention methods an important part of their response

to the epidemic. Female condoms are being test marketed at selected sites in the

three states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra, with the hope of making

them more widely available in the near future.

The project represents a cooperation between Hindustan Latex Ltd., NACO and the

Female Health Company. Leading research institutions in India are working on

the development and testing of microbicides. Microbicides are substances that

can be applied in the vagina to reduce transmission of HIV and other STDs.

Although microbicides are still under research, there has been a lot of

scientific progress in the last two years, and canditate microbicides are being

tested in various sites in India.

The urgency of women's prevention needs has not been answered by appropriate

urgency of response. The female condom is an existing woman focused prevention

method, yet it remains virtually unknown and inaccessible to the majority of

Indian women. The effectiveness of the technology needs to be widely

demonstrated.

There is an urgent need for awareness raising and advocacy for microbicides, to

speed the development and introduction of a safe, effective microbicide as soon

as possible ( 5-7 years) Community stake holders will play an instrumental role

in shaping the progress of women focused HIV prevention.

This meeting has provided information and opportunities for participants to be

actively involved in expanding the HIV and STD prevention available to women

over the next five years.

Dr. Radium Bhattacharya

E-mail: " <gapad1@...>

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