Pretoria - The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS have welcomed a study conducted on a vaginal gel which is said to reduce the risk of HIV infections in women if used before and after intercourse.
The results of the study on the gel, which contains the antiretroviral drug tenofovir, were announced on Monday at the 18th International AIDS Conference held in Vienna.
The study conducted by the South African Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research (CAPRISA) found the gel to be safe and acceptable when used once in the 12 hours before sex and once in the 12 hours after sex by women aged 18 to 40 years.
According to the study, the use of the gel reduces HIV infection by 39 percent and also reduces the risk of contracting genital herpes by 51 percent.
UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe said the study could open new possibilities for HIV prevention and that if confirmed, it would be a powerful option for the prevention revolution and help the world break the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic.
"We are giving hope to women, for the first time we have seen results for a woman initiated and controlled HIV prevention option," said Sidibe.
WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan said that the organisation was looking forward in seeing these results confirmed.
"Once they have been shown to be safe and effective, WHO will work with countries and partners to accelerate access to these products," said Dr Chan.
Dr Chan and Sidibe stressed out an urgency to confirm the results so that a safe and effective tenofovir gel can rapidly be made available to women who want it.
They added that to rapidly moving to additional trials to confirm results, key issues including determining requirements for the approval by national drug regulatory authorities of the new indication for tenofovir, operations research on how to deliver and sustain product supplies within combination prevention programmes, determining the frequency of HIV testing and accelerated studies to expand knowledge on the safety of the product particularly in young women below 18 years of age and pregnant women, needed to be addressed.
WHO and UNAIDS will convene an expert consultation with women's health and HIV prevention advocates, scientists, microbicide research teams and product developers and public health experts to discuss the next steps with the product.
The consultation will be held in South Africa in August.
