This week the FDA will decide whether to recommend approval of the second generation female condom. You can sign on to a letter in support of approval.

Here is a time sensitive opportunity

for individuals and organizations to take action in support of HIV prevention!

This week the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee

on Obstetrics and Gynecology Devices will decide whether to recommend

approval of the FC2, the second generation of the Female Health Company’s

female condom. The Center

for Health and Gender Equity

(CHANGE), on behalf of the AIDS

Foundation of Chicago

and the National

Women’s Health Network,

is circulating a

letter for organizations to sign

that urges the FDA to consider the importance of female condoms when

deliberating the approval of the FC2. Individuals are also encouraged

to sign-on in support of this effort (click

here).

The female condom is a proven HIV and pregnancy prevention

method that can be inserted independently and well in advance of intercourse.

As Lauren Sisson points out in her article Female

Condoms: Freedom Doesn’t Come Free,

the lack of access to and availability of female condoms has nothing

to do with their effectiveness and everything to do with a lack of investment.

Female condoms can reduce the rate of HIV transmission among women having

sex with an infected partner by more than 90 percent and studies show

that effective promotion and programming of the female condom results

in a significant increase in the total number of protected sex acts

between partners. Misconceptions

and biases against the female condom

have delayed international investment and, as a result, there is a high

cost-per-unit price. National governments, bilateral aid agencies,

and international donors could drive down the price of the female condom

by making bulk purchases, as they have done with virtually every reproductive

and sexual health technology, including male condoms.

The FC2 has been approved by

the World Health Organization and the United Nations Population Fund

for distribution by HIV/AIDS and family planning organizations. FDA

approval would enable USAID to purchase larger quantities of female

condoms and distribute them to non-governmental agencies providing services

to the millions of women living in nations with high HIV/AIDS infection

rates.

For more information about

this issue and CHANGE visit

the Prevention Now! web site.

Again, individuals are encouraged to sign-on in support of this effort

(click

here) and representatives

from organizations wishing to sign on to the letter are asked to email

Jessica Terlikowski at [email protected] no later than 5:00pm Central Time on Wednesday, December 10 to endorse the letter. Take action now

and sign on to urge the FDA to approve the FC2!