Buoyed by the success of its year-long pilot project in six states, National AIDS Control Organisation has decided to promote the use of female condoms across India.
KOLKATA: Buoyed by the success of its year-long pilot project in six states, National AIDS Control Organisation has decided to promote the use of female condoms across India to control the spread of HIV/AIDS.
"In the first phase, the programme would be implemented involving all NGOs working in the field in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra," National Project Manager of Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust (HLFPPT), Kavita Potturi said.
HLFPPT has been assigned by NACO for promoting the marketing of the new contraceptive.
Along with these four states, NACO had launched a pilot project to introduce female condom in Karnataka and Gujarat in April 2007.
Potturi said the success achieved by the pilot project carried out by 61 NGOs had encouraged them to take up the present programme to scale up the campaign nationwide.
She said 250 NGOs would be engaged in this phase, adding "NACO will take up projects to popularise female condom in other states too in subsequent phases."
For this programme, NACO would buy 15 lakh updated female condoms (FC-2) made by Hindustan Latex Limited to distribute in the four states.
"Female condoms would be marketed by peer educators who carry out the campaign after discussion with the users. They have been trained on safe sex and promotion of social marketing of the new contraceptive," Potturi said.
"Tremendous demand for female condom has been generated in the areas where the pilot project was implemented. Its use helps women to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS," Satyaban Ranjit, Director of Chittaranjan Welfare and Research Centre which was one of the six NGOs engaged in the first phase in West Bengal, said.
According to him, female sex workers in South 24-Parganas district where they had carried out the campaign have already benefited by the new condoms as they find it easy to use and customer-friendly.
Ranjit also said the male partners are not much averse to the use of female condoms, thus helping the female sex workers to check spread of HIV virus.
Potturi also said the gaps between the consistent male condom use and the use of female condom have started reducing since its launch last year.
The pilot project was taken up after social activists urged introduction of condoms among female sex workers as most of the male partners dislike to use condom.
NACO had handed over five lakh female condoms (FC-I) to HLFPPT after buing it from the UK at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore. Each female condom was sold to the users at a subsidised rate of Rs 5 against actual price of Rs 50, Potturi said.
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