The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Sex workers say yes to FCP

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Friday, Jun 13, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Sex workers say yes to FCP

Project launched in State as part of an initiative to reduce their vulnerability to HIV infection

MINIMISING RISK: The female condom being marketed across 21 districts in the State.

HYDERABAD: “It is a tool to empower female sex workers, vesting in them the authority to negotiate safe sex with clients,” said Jayamma, Project Director, Chaitanya Mahila Mandali, referring to the wide acceptance of a Female Condom programme (FCP) launched in the State as part of an initiative to reduce their vulnerability to HIV infection.

With women being two to four times more susceptible to infection and the socially-vulnerable groups among them facing the problem of discrimination, a strategy was devised to prevent the disproportionate risk of infection and empower them to protect themselves.

Funded by United Kingdom’s Department for International Department, the Hindustan Latex Family Planning and Promotion Trust (HLFPPT) took up a social marketing study in AP together with the AP State AIDS Control Society (APSACS).

With the help of 37 NGOs including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Alliance, over 90,000 condoms were socially marketed across 21 districts in AP.

Repeat purchase

“When female condoms were not available, they had to depend on males to use condom. Now they have a tool to protect themselves,” said Kavitha Potturi, National Manager, FCP, HLFPPT. Its success could be gauged by the fact that sex workers’ looked for repeat purchase (each condom is priced at Rs. 5) rather than as a one-time novelty, she added.

FCP’s success was because peer educators, drawn from their own group, played a key role in convincing them on the using condoms.

Another advantage with FCs was they offered dual protection -- preventing risk of infection and unwanted pregnancies.

Study in six States

A pre-programme assessment study was implemented by National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) through targeted intervention in six States having high HIV prevalence -- AP, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Gujarat. In Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, the project was taken up to see acceptance in general population.

Future plans

Enthused by the response, plans are afoot to make FCs available on a wider scale for the public by integrating the programme with National Rural Health Mission and Reproductive and Child Health Programme, said G. Bhargavi, HLFPPT’s Programme Manager,

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