28. April 2006
Worldwide Campaign for Microbicides
Three decades into the HIV/AIDS pandemic, HIV has a new face. Now at least half of the people infected with HIV each year are female. In Europe and the United States, the number of women with HIV/AIDS increased by twenty five percent in just two years. In Asia, one in every three people living with HIV is a woman. And in Africa, fully two thirds of the HIV infected youth are young women and girls.
Europe’s problems are no less severe. The number of western Europeans with HIV has doubled since 1995. With race in Eastern Europe escalating even more rapidly, other sexually transmitted infections are also on the rise spreading fastest among teenagers. Women are more than twice as likely as men to become infected from unprotected sex. This simple gel known as a microbicide could change all of that. Once available vaginal microbicides will come in many forms: a gel or cream, a sponge, a water-penetrable thin strip, a time released suppository, or an intravaginal ring that could be left in for months at a time. Some of these are contraceptive and some are not giving women who want to get pregnant an important new option.
Microbicides would be the most important innovation in reproductive health since the Pill.
The word "microbicides" refers to a range of different products that share one common characteristic: the ability to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) when applied topically. A microbicide could be produced in many forms, including gels, creams, suppositories, films, or as a sponge or ring that releases the active ingredient over time Microbicides are not yet available. Scientists are currently testing many substances to see whether they help protect against HIV and/or other STDs, but no safe and effective microbicide is currently available to the public. However, scientists are seriously pursuing almost 60 product leads, including at least eleven that have proven safe and effective in animals and are now being tested in people. If one of these leads proves successful and investment is sufficient, a microbicide could be available in five to seven years.
Microbicides would fill an important gap in our ability to prevent HIV and STDs. Today's prevention options--condoms, mutual monogamy, and STD treatment--are not feasible for millions of people around the world, especially women. Many women do not have the social or economic power necessary to insist on condom use and fidelity or to abandon partnerships that put them at risk. Because microbicides would not require a partner's cooperation, they would put the power to protect into women's hand.
To learn more about the campaign, visit the website www.global-campaign.org/ or watch the documentary video 'In Women's Hands' by following this link: www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&;hc=1696