Bid to expand female condom programme to 17 states

[Guest guest]

Bid to expand female condom programme to 17 states

Kounteya Sinha, TNN, Aug 3, 2010, 03.01am IST

NEW DELHI: India has decided to step up its female condom (FC) programme in a

big way in a bid to control the spread of HIV among women.

With nearly 50% of the 1.7 lakh fresh cases of HIV reported annually being

women, the drive will be expanded from eight states to 17 in the next few

months.

Though National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) buys FC at over Rs 20 a piece

from Hindustan Latex Limited (HLL), it provides them to female sex workers (FSW)

for only Rs 3.50 each.

As of now, FC is being made available to FSWs in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh,

West Bengal, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Rajasthan. The nine new

states, where FC will be given to FSWs via target intervention groups, are

Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Haryana, Punjab, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh

and Chhattisgarh.

A decision on a nationwide initiative will be undertaken after reviewing the

data from these 17 states. Since 2008, NACO has doled out 1.5 million FCs.

NACO officials said a year-long pre-programme acceptability and feasibility

study since November 2006, involving 60,000 women across 13 sites -- 11

involving high-risk groups like sex workers and two family planning programmes

-- in eight states had found that 60% women were re-purchasing condoms and over

98% of the users enjoyed the comfort level.

" The pilot project was highly successful, showing consistent use of FCs. We,

therefore, propose to further scale-up the programme in two or three districts

in each of the nine states. At present, India has 2.4 million HIV patients, of

which nearly 40% are women. The condom will not be commercially available very

soon, " said Gaurav Jain, who is in-charge of condom promotion at NACO.

NACO director-general K Chandramouli said the objective to promote FCs is to

empower FSWs to convince their clients or regular partners to use condoms, and

address concern regarding unwillingness of male partner to use condom.

Initially, the FC programme was implemented through select NGOs in six states.

The results from the pre-programme assessment indicated high levels of

acceptance of FCs among sex workers and around 5% reduction in unprotected

intercourse.

Experts say when male partner refuses to use a condom, women need such

self-initiated methods to protect themselves against unplanned pregnancies and

HIV/AIDS.

India till recently imported FCs, which was a costly affair.

FC is the only female-initiated barrier method, which is both safe and effective

if used correctly and consistently, that provides dual protection against

transmission of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, and

unwanted pregnancy.

Globally, nearly 40% of new HIV victims are hapless homemakers who don't

consider their husbands as a threat and commercial sex workers who are unableto

convince their clients to use a condom.

Women, aged between 15 and 24, are at least three times more vulnerale than

their male peers to be infected with HIV.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Bid-to-expand-female-condom-programme-t\

o-17-states-/articleshow/6249133.cms

[Guest guest]

Dear Forum,

Re: /message/11806

Greetings from EMPOWER!

We are happy to introduce ourselves as EMPOWER, leading civil

society organization carrying out HIV/AIDS targeted intervention among

female sexworkers in Tuticorin Block , Tamilnadu in partnership with

APAC-VHS -USAID.

From October 2009, we have been promoting Female Condom (FC) through the peer

educators through support of HLLPT trust and consistently the acceptance and

regularity in usage is reportedly good. Even the polling booth study conducted

at the organization level report that 60 % of the FSW have been introduced to FC

and 40% used it on a regular basis. Over 6500 pieces have been sold to the FSW

community.

We also plan to conduct a KAP on FC usage among FSW in Tuticorin Block which is

expected to throw more light and guide the intervention.

Meera Shankar

Program Director

EMPOWER

e-mail: <ttn_empower@...>