A South African company will produce a vaginal ring that protects against HIV, which AIDS experts say could eventually become cheaper and more readily available.
A South African company will produce a vaginal ring to protect against HIV, which AIDS experts say will eventually become cheaper and more readily available.
The Population Council announced on Thursday that Johannesburg’s Chiara Health will begin manufacturing silicone rings within the next few years, with an estimated capacity of 1 million a year. The device releases a drug that helps prevent HIV infection and has been approved by nearly a dozen countries and the World Health Organization.
The nonprofit council owns the rights to the ring, which is currently manufactured by a Swedish company. Currently, approximately 500,000 rings purchased by donors are being given free to women in Africa.
Ben Phillips, a spokesman for the United Nations AIDS agency, said the benefit of the ring was that women could freely use it without anyone knowing or consent.
“This is another option for women whose partners do not use condoms or do not allow them to take oral (HIV prevention) medicines,” he said.
According to WHO statistics, HIV remains the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age in Africa, with women accounting for 60% of new infections.
The ring slowly releases a drug called dapivirine over a month. It currently costs between $12 and $16, but experts predict that price will drop once it becomes widely produced in Africa. Developers are also working on a version that will last up to three months, which should also reduce annual costs.
The WHO recommends the ring be used as an additional tool for women at “significant risk of HIV,” and regulators in more than a dozen African countries, including South Africa, Botswana, Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe, also recommend it. The ring is given the go-ahead. The WHO cited two leading studies in approving the ring, which found the ring reduced women’s chances of contracting HIV by about a third, while other studies found it lowered the risk by more than 50%. It has been suggested that this is possible.
Last year, activists stormed the stage in protest during the year’s largest AIDS conference, calling on donors to buy silicone rings for African women.
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