Prototype Female Condom Performs Well in South African Study

A prototype female condom made with synthetic latex performs just as well as the commercially available Reality polyurethane female condom, reports the University of Witwatersrand, Brown University, and Family Health International in the journal Contraception.

The study was conducted among more than 200 women from Durban, South Africa, who all used both types of condoms 10 times each during a two- to three-month period. Results from nearly 4,000 condom uses showed that the two types of condoms were similar in rates of breakage, slippage, incorrect penetration, and displacement of the outer ring during intercourse.

Because the prototype female condom is less expensive than the Reality female condom to produce, it could eventually offer a low-cost alternative to the Reality condom in settings where cost is a prominent barrier to contraceptive distribution.

Read more about this study in the PubMed online database.

Source
Beksinska M, Smit J, Mabude Z, Vijayakumar G, Joanis C. Performance of the Reality polyurethane female condom and a synthetic latex prototype: a randomized crossover trial among South African women. Contraception 2006;73(4):386-393.