Every day, over 5,700 women worldwide contract HIV and hundreds of thousands become infected with other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), such as gonorrhea and chlamydia. In developing countries, STIs, excluding HIV, are the second leading cause of illness, disability, and death among women of reproductive age (World Bank, World Development Report, 1993).

Presently, women are largely dependent on their male partners' willingness to use condoms in order to protect themselves from STIs. The lack of prevention alternatives for women both compromises their health and hastens the spread of the HIV pandemic.

I call upon the U.S. government, the European Union, and other national governments to fill this void by greatly accelerating research into topical microbicides and expanding access to the female condom.

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Print and return completed form to Center for Health and Gender Equity, 6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 910, Takoma Park, Maryland 20912, U.S.A.

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Back to the March 2000 Issue of Body Positive Magazine