I love the female condom. No, really, I do. This may seem a little odd coming from a male, however I have seen the enthusiasm on female adolescents’ faces after showing them how to use the female-initiated dual protection method.
The female condom allows women to have a choice and a say in family planning decisions. Unfortunately, women in the developing world do not yet love the female condom with the same ardor as I do, as both distribution and uptake of the female condom around the world have not been as great as expected.
Thus, I was excited to hear that the female condom is currently receiving a makeover to make it more “user-friendly”. Donald McNeil Jr.’s November 13 New York Times article “Redesigning a condom so women will use it” discusses the proposed new design of the female condom.
The new condom will be made of a thinner polyurethane designed to better transmit 
warmth and will contain one bunched up end as opposed to a plastic ring, making it easier to insert.
McNeil argues that although the condom will be thinner, less bulky, and easier to insert, the new condom still does not solve the problem of allowing women to use dual contraceptive methods without her partner knowing. However, the truth is, microbicides are still in clinical trials and thus unavailable, so currently if a male does not choose to use a condom, the only recourse a female has to protect herself from both HIV and pregnancy is the female condom. Although it is difficult, and unheard of in most cultures, to bring up any mention of condom use within a marriage, this is not a fault of the female condom itself, but rather of societal norms.
The US Food and Drug Administration has stated that the new design must pass clinical trials prior to being made available on the market. However, due to the prohibitive cost of such trials it may be quite a long time before users around the world will benefit from an improved design. Until that time, global health leaders and pioneers must continue the work they have done around the globe to promote the female condom, and convince users that the current device is not just a device for sex workers (McNeil notes that they are among the device’s largest constituents).
Although critics have noted that the female condom is more expensive to produce than the male condom, one must think of the future cost HIV infection and maternal mortality will inflict on already poor countries.
Just like the male condom, it is not enough to simply put such devices into the hands of women. Women must be educated on how to approach the subject of condom use with their partners (whether it be male or female condoms) and how to correctly insert and remove the existing female condom.
We are producing a new resource to address many of these remaining challenges. Stay tuned for INFO’s forthcoming website, Condoms: Your Questions Answered.
Posted by Seth Rosenblatt, Program Specialist
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