Empowering women: from the N9 microbicide to the Dimba and Laobe of Senegal
Dodd, R.
Aids Analysis Africa 4(5): 9
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 1016-8974 PMID: 12287912 Document Number: 287961
For many years it has been argued that women must be empowered in order to be able to negotiate safe sex practices and protect themselves from AIDS. As the percentage of female AIDS victims has risen, both the biomedical lobby and the developmental lobby have called for changes in the approach to AIDS prevention which would address women's issues. The biomedical lobby would provide better quality health care for women and develop female-controlled methods of prevention. The best bet for the latter is development of a microbicide which could be used without the partner's knowledge and could take many different forms such as a sponge, gel, or cream. This product would allow women to conceive while protecting themselves from AIDS. At present, some beneficial effects of the contraceptive nonoxynol-9 have been found, but there are doubts about the safety of high-dose, high-frequency use of this product, and the correct dosage to protect from HIV is unknown. Since little profit is anticipated from the development of microbicides, it will probably occur as a result of public sector investment. The developmental lobby would approach the issue of women's status by tackling the root causes of inequality and by calling for practical changes such as eliminating inheritance laws which impoverish widows. Multidisciplinary approaches also avoid fostering the association between condom use and infidelity. Traditional women's groups (the Dimba and the Laobe) have been used in Senegal to supply AIDS prevention information and condoms. There are powerful communication channels for community-based prevention programs.