At last, an HIV prevention tool women can control?

It was never a surprise to Allen Kakiza, a 44-year-old primary school teacher, when the women in her community returned from a visit to the local clinic with a diagnosis of HIV. But it was always heartbreaking, she said, speaking from the crowded neighborhood where she lives in Uganda’s capital, Kampala.

Many of her friends and neighbors are married or have an exclusive boyfriend, and they follow the HIV prevention lesson that has been drummed into their heads from a young age: be faithful. The same isn’t always true of their partners, though.

“Most of our partners, they move out looking for other women,” she said, her voice rising with anger. “So you find a woman who spends all of her time at home is infected.” They often feel powerless to combat the threat, she said. Even if a woman suspects her partner of having unprotected sex with someone else, there is bound to be an argument — maybe even violence — if she suggests that he use a condom.