African Services Committee Applauds City for Its Efforts to Expand Access to Woman-Initiated HIV Prevention
African Services Committee is praising New York City's Department of Health, for showing national leadership in putting the second-generation female condom into the hands of women living with or at risk of HIV/AIDS infection.
"We enthusiastically endorse New York City's efforts to scale up access to the second-generation female condom and to educate women on its important role in HIV prevention," says Kim Nichols, Co-Executive Director of African Services Committee, a community-based HIV testing, prevention and care organization in Harlem.
"At a time when the World Health Organization has recognized AIDS as the leading cause of death for women of reproductive age worldwide, it's essential to make woman-initiated HIV prevention methods widely available and affordable," Ms. Nichols added.
New York City will begin purchasing the Female Health Company's FC2 Female Condom®, which received approval for the U.S. market from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May. FC2 is comparable to the first-generation FC1 Female Condom in performance, but the introduction of a new material has allowed its manufacturer to reduce FC2's cost by 30 percent relative to FC1.
Increased global sales can help to further reduce FC2s unit cost. Women's reproductive health advocates are hopeful that increased sales will reduce FC2s cost to the point where it will be affordable to HIV prevention programs worldwide.
FC2 is already included in the WHO's essential products list, and it has been available internationally since 2005. It is currently distributed in more than 90 countries, and more than 35 million units were distributed worldwide in 2008, the majority to internationally funded HIV prevention programs in Africa.
Tembeni Fazo, originally from Zimbabwe and a peer advocate and health educator at African Services Committee, said, "At African Services, we have distributed thousands of free female condoms over the past seven years. As an organization dedicated to serving the health needs of New York City's African immigrants, we are proud that HIV prevention programs in Africa have pioneered the introduction of the second-generation female condom and are glad it will now be more widely available in New York City,"
"Experience has shown that when women and men have access to the female condom and education on its correct use, it is a product that is embraced and in high demand," Ms. Fazo added. Just like the tampon two generations ago, women need to be introduced to the female condom and experience it for themselves to recognize its value."