Female condoms tried out in Chennai

New Delhi: A female condom pilot programme was launched in Chennai on Wednesday with an aim to fight the spread of HIV.

The programme, which aims to empower women in the state from contracting Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD), was launched by the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TANSACS) and Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust (HLFPPT),

It has been initiated as part of National AIDS Control Organisation's (NACO) effort to provide female condoms (FC's) to the vulnerable population in eight states.

"There is a feminisation of the HIV epidemic. On a daily basis, around 7,000 women are infected globally," news agency PTI quoted Project Director, TANSACS, Supriya Sahu as saying.

"Most of them are sexually vulnerable. They get infected indirectly as well. The Female Condom is an important empowerment tool, she said. However, she cautioned that it was not a replacement for the male condoms,” she added.

Sahu also said that in India, the entire burden of family planning falls on the woman.

“Even though, operations for men are fairly simple and easy, it is the women who take up the family planning operation," she was quoted as saying.

The project will reach out to female sex workers initially, but will be taken to general population as well.

There will be six FC pilot projects initiated in the state, Sahu said.