Researchers working to develop microbicides, which could give women a means of protecting themselves against sexually transmitted diseases, are soliciting women's views to help ensure that the new technology will meet their needs.
Women will be involved in many aspects of microbicide development, including the implementation of clinical trials, and introduction of the method into family planning and reproductive health programs. Researchers estimate it will be seven to 10 years before a microbicide product is approved for widespread use.
Microbicides may offer a non-contraceptive female-controlled barrier method to protect against AIDS and HIV infection by blocking STD bacteria or viruses. It might be contained in a gel or film that is inserted into the vagina, much like available spermicides. A modified formulation might offer contraceptive protection as well.
"Traditionally contraceptive development has been biomedically driven -- driven by scientific discoveries," says Christa Coggins, staff associate with the Population Council. The microbicides research, however, is seeking women's perspectives to guide research, before discoveries are made. The Population Council is working collaboratively with the U.S.-based International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC) and The Pacific Institute for Women's Health.
A meeting of women's health advocates and scientists was held in 1994, and women's groups will be involved in later stages. "Involving women's health advocates in clinical trials benefits both the study participants and the scientists," says Amparo Claro, coordinator of the Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network in Chile, and one of the health advocates working with the Population Council. By working with scientists in clinical trial sites, "women's health advocates can establish open and meaningful communication with the study participants, which would provide, for the scientists, more accurate and complete reactions to the product."1
The Population Council plans Phase I clinical trials of a noncontraceptive microbicide in the United States, Finland, Chile, Australia, and the Dominican Republic, says Coggins. A second study, which will use focus groups and interviews to determine women's preferences for microbicide formulation -- in film, vaginal inserts or gel -- will be conducted in Côte d'Ivoire, Zimbabwe, Thailand and the United States, she says.
-- Barbara Barnett
Footnote
- Partnership for Prevention: A Report of a Meeting Between Women's Health Advocates, Program Planners and Scientists. New York: The Population Council, 1994.
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