India is all set to scale up and popularize the use of female condoms, the only existing prevention method against HIV for women. At a time when the world’s best known female activists are calling the global failure to popularize female condoms, India has been a rare instance where acceptability for the female condoms has been as high as 97%. The National Aids Control Organisation is, therefore, seriously considering a proposal to make these condoms available across the country for just Rs 3. Under the pilot project, Naco procured five lakh female condoms from UK’s Female Health Company (FHC), which were doled out to sex workers and housewives in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. A year-long pre-programme acceptability and feasibility study, involving 60,000 women in 13 sites — 11 involving high risk groups like sex workers and two family planning programmes — in eight states from November 2006, found 60% women re-purchasing the condom and over 98% of the users finding it comfortable.
India till now only imported female condoms. Hindustan Latex has now set up a female condom manufacturing unit in Kochi. The unit will manufacture 10 million female condoms annually. It has been 15 years since the female condom was first unveiled. But even now, several countries have failed to popularize its use. According to data released by Oxfam here, in 2007, fewer than 28 million female condoms were distributed worldwide.