Women in low- and middle-income countries still bear a disproportionate burden of HIV and AIDS, yet they lack practical tools they can use on their own without the involvement of a male partner.
This limited financial and social autonomy extends to their sexual lives, and women often have little say often over when — or even if — they have sex, especially when it comes to using a condom, Zeda Rosenberg, CEO of the product development nonprofit International Partnership for Microbicides, told Devex.
As women have increasingly become the face of HIV over the past decade, it has become more crucial to develop a diverse toolkit of HIV prevention products, she noted.