Combating HIV/AIDS with imagination and free female condoms in DC and Chicago (video)

AP Photo [the condom dress]

In Chicago and Washington, DC, organizations are mobilizing to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in women.  Using creative ways to reach women -- in DC beauty salons -- they are the trailblazers advocating female condoms.

"Zoe Lehman, 23, is the support services coordinator at the Chicago Women's AIDS Project . . . . Last week Lehman's organization and a coalition of others — including the AIDS Foundation of Chicago — launched a campaign called "Put A Ring On It," to promote the latest version of the female condom, approved in March 2009 by the Food and Drug Administration.

"The condoms aren't yet widely available in drugstores but can be picked up at Chicago Public Health Department clinics around the city. " New female condom adds to anti-AIDS arsenal

Washington, DC

In a new video on CNN added on March 13th "Kate Bolduan reports on a first-of-its-kind effort to give out female condoms as a way to protect women from AIDS."

Newsweek also reported the historic new plan to distribute free newly improved female condoms to help protect young women in Washington, DC.

The January 2009  report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that nearly 19 million new sexually transmitted infections occur each year, with rates increasing in women and the 15- to 24-year-olds. “Condomania” can deter infectious love

While condom makers have made humorous commercials and toured college campuses, clearly it was not enough. Women are being hard hit, especially African-Americans.  As such, this new female condom campaign is helping to raise awareness.

Newsweek noted: "A $500,000 grant from the MAC AIDS Fund  to promote and distribute female condoms in Washington, D.C. The announcement marks an ambitious collaboration of private and public organizations: CVS, which is distributing the condoms; the Female Health Co., which manufactures them; the District of Columbia; and the MAC AIDS Fund, the philanthropic wing of the cosmetics company. All this comes at a time when rates of HIV in D.C. area women are dangerously high, and when women's roles in AIDS prevention are often overlooked. It's a big investment in a bold plan—but can female condoms really make a difference?" A Better Female Condom Newsweek

Copyright 2010 Rita Watson/  All Rights Reserved