'Invisible' condom against HIV focus of city indaba
April 04, 2006 Edition 1
Di Caelers
Thousands of South African women have volunteered as "guinea pigs" in the quest to pin down an HIV-prevention method especially for them.
Known commonly as the "invisible condom", these so-called microbicides promise, if effective, to prevent at least 2.5 million new infections in the developing world in the next five years.
The need for women-controlled methods for protection from HIV is desperate, and the attraction of the microbicide gel is that it could be used without the knowledge of a sexual partner.
Six clinical efficacy trials involving microbicides, as gels, creams, films, suppositories or sponges, are under way in Africa, India and the US, with four of them taking place in South Africa.
The biggest trial involves more than 11 000 women in Durban, Johannesburg, Uganda and Tanzania.
The other trials involve more than 6 500 women in Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria, 3 220 women in KwaZulu-Natal, and more than 2 500 women in Durban, as well as in Benin, Burkina Faso, India, Kenya and Uganda.
The products all contain an active ingredient which can kill or deactivate HIV cells, and are applied vaginally to reduce HIV transmission during sex.
The World Health Organisation's Dr Kim Dickson hails microbicides as having the potential to revolutionise the lives of women in terms of HIV prevention.
Many women did not have the social power to negotiate condom use with older men, including their husbands.
"Many women cannot abstain from sex, they may be forced or just cannot say no to partners. Others are faithful but their partners, including husbands and steady partners, are not.
"Women are looking for a safe, easy to use, effective and affordable method to protect themselves, and microbicides could be the answer," Dickson said.
Although the African studies are focusing on HIV prevention in women, studies in the US are also evaluating microbicides as an HIV prevention method for gay men.
This month, Cape Town will host Microbicides 2006, the first conference of its kind in Africa, where latest updates on the research studies are to be presented.
It will be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from April 23 to 26, and speakers include Graca Machel, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Justice Edwin Cameron, and the Treatment Action Campaign's Zackie Achmat.
The Cape Argus reported late last year that the microbicides project was developed by the Microbicides Development Programme, co-ordinated by the Clinical Trials Unit of the British Medical Research Council, and funded by the UK's international development department.
The London School of Tropical Medicine calculates 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.
First-generation microbicides, with 50% to 60% efficacy against HIV, are expected to be available over the counter here in five years.
By 2012, the second-generation microbicides that are 70% to 80% effective could be on the market.
The efficacy of these gels is expected to reach 85% to 97% by 2017 when they could be stand-alone products that do not have to be combined with condom use.
dic@incape.co.za
