Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - Sunday October 29, 2000
The key to providing female condoms, which retail for $2 to $3 apiece, to poor women is making them affordable, said Dr. Susan A. Ballagh, the clinical trial's principal investigator.
The Chicago-based Female Health Company, the product's sole manufacturer, sells the condoms to international family planning agencies for as little as 70 cents apiece.
But women's condoms could be even more economical if they were reused. Researchers at Eastern Virginia Medical School are recruiting 80 couples to test the condoms. Half the couples will use the condom once. The other couples each will use a single condom five times over 15 days, washing the condoms with water and soap after use. Researchers will check the condoms for rips or tears and examine the participants to make sure that reuse doesn't cause rashes or irritations.
"In terms of the whole spectrum of birth control, it's not the best," said Barbara Lea-Kruger, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Health's HIV/AIDS division. "But if we're talking about women who don't have access to other forms of birth control and who come from a culture where men are less willing to use a condom, it's a viable alternative."
EVMS is the only research center involved in the study, run by Female Health International of Research Triangle Park, N.C.
On the Net: http://www.femalehealth.com
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