This Month's HIV/AIDS Facts

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Question: I’ve heard of a female condom. What is it?

Basic Answer: The female condom is made of polyurethane. Shaped like a tube, the female condom has a ring at each end and is closed at one end. Unlike the male condom, the female condom allows women to protect themselves without having to convince male partners to put on condoms.

Detailed Answer: The female condom is made of polyurethane. Shaped like a tube, the female condom has a ring at each end and is closed at one end. To use the condom, a woman puts the closed end in her vagina; the tube then lines the inside of the vagina and covers part of the labia on the outside. The condom is held in place by the two rings, one circling the cervix and the other outside the vagina.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the female condom for use in the United States in 1993. The FDA required that the package label stress the need for people to use the conventional male latex condom for “highly effective protection” against HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Although current research on the effectiveness of the female condom against STDs is encouraging, further research is needed. Laboratory tests, however, show that particles as small as sperm and viruses, such as HIV (the virus that causes AIDS), cannot pass through the polyurethane.

Even so, experts consider that by providing more HIV prevention choices, the female condom may help in the fight against HIV. For women who have sex, the female condom is the first barrier method developed for use by women to help prevent HIV infection and other STDs. Unlike the male condom, the female condom allows women to protect themselves without having to convince male partners to put on condoms. However, female condoms should not be used with male condoms.

Not all women find the female condom easy or pleasant to use, nor can a woman hide the condom when it is in place. Experts are calling for development of a vaginal microbicide (used like a spermicide) that would kill viruses and other germs as an additional woman-controlled strategy against HIV.

SOURCES:

• Family Health International, AIDS Control and Prevention Project (AIDSCAP) Women’s Initiative. The Female Condom: From Research to the Marketplace. August 1997.
• Institute of Medicine. The Hidden Epidemic: Confronting Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Eng, T., and Butler, W., eds. 1997.
• Family Planning Perspectives, 1994; vol. 26, no. 2. "Comparative Contraceptive Efficacy of the Female Condom and Other Barrier Methods." Trussell, J., et al.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Statement by the Food and Drug Administration. April 27, 1993.

For current statistics, contact the CDC National AIDS Hotline (800/342-AIDS), Spanish (800/344-7432), TTY/TDD (800/243-7889); the CDC Voice and Fax Information System (888/232-3228); the CDC National Prevention Information Network (800/458-5231) or its Web site at www.cdcnpin.org; or the CDC HIV/AIDS Web site at www.cdc.gov/hiv/dhap.htm.