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The Global Fund to Fight AIDS stated on Friday (September 29th) that a new HIV preventive approach – a vaginal ring diffusing an antiviral medicine – will soon be released in South Africa, one of the world’s most AIDS-affected countries.
According to the Global Fund to battle AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, three organizations working in the battle against AIDS in South Africa have bought 16,000 rings, which should be accessible in the coming months.
The silicone vaginal ring, inspired by those used for female contraception, gradually diffuses an antiretroviral, dapivirine, and must be changed every month.
“We are convinced that this new ring can have a revolutionary impact on the prevention of HIV (the human immunodeficiency virus, which destroys the body’s immune defenses),” explains Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund, in a press release.
The ring is an alternative to other preventive treatments, or pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which have revolutionized prevention against the AIDS virus in recent years.
These other treatments involve taking one pill a day or receiving one injection a month, methods which are not necessarily suitable for all those targeted, explain South African prevention organizations.
“Women need access to a range of safe and effective solutions, including the dapivirine ring, so that they can adopt the one that suits them best,” stresses Ntombenhle Mkhize, President of the Aids Foundation of South Africa.
According to UNAIDS, by 2023, women and teenage girls would account for 53% of all infections worldwide.
South Africa still has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world, at 13.7%.
However, antiretrovirals are being used by more than 5.4 million of an estimated 8.2 million infected persons, making it one of the world’s largest HIV treatment programs, which has substantially reduced mortality.
Recent clinical trials have demonstrated that the World Health Organization-approved dapivirine vaginal ring can reduce the risk of seroconversion (moving from HIV-negative to HIV-positive) by 35%.
“We hope that many other countries will follow South Africa’s lead”, added Peter Sands of the Global Fund.
In addition to South Africa, the device has also been approved and launched in several other African countries, including Uganda, Kenya and Zimbabwe.
