3 000 women set for 'invisible condom' trial
October 21, 2005 Edition 1
Di Caelers
Women will be able to protect themselves from HIV by 2010 if South African research into a microbicide gel, known commonly as an "invisible condom", proves successful.
About 10 000 healthy women will be part of a groundbreaking microbicide trial, the biggest conducted, which kicks off next week.
The research marks an important step forward for women, who are the hardest hit by the HIV/Aids pandemic.
Microbicides, in either gel or cream form or as suppositories or films, are used vaginally to prevent HIV infection or infections from other sexually-transmitted diseases.
A project of the University of the Witwatersrand's reproductive health research unit, the trial will involve 3 000 women from greater Johannesburg and is expected to take three to four years.
It kicks off on Monday in Gauteng and in Uganda's Masaka district. It will be expanded to Durban and Mtubatuba and to Tanzania and Zambia in the next two weeks.
The institute has started screening to find 3 000 HIV-negative women, half from Soweto and the other half from Orange Farm. The first volunteer will be enrolled on Monday.
The project has been developed by the Microbicides Development Programme, co-ordinated by the clinical trials unit of the British Medical Research Council, and is funded by the British government's international development department.
The London School of Tropical Medicine has calculated that a microbicide that is 60% effective against HIV, and used by only 20% of women in 73 developing countries over three years, could prevent 2.5 million infections.
dic@incape.co.za
