Vaginal Ring preventing HIV to be tested in Africa

Good news? Maybe yes! After recording success amongst teenage girls in the US, plans are underway by researchers to test a vaginal ring that contains an antiretroviral drug called dapivirine that prevents HIV infection, in Africa. 

Women and girls aged 15-24 account for a fifth of all new HIV infections globally with nearly 1,000 infected every day especially young girls who live in areas where HIV is epidemic, like sub-Saharan Africa as they are particularly vulnerable to becoming infected with the disease.

The vaginal ring containing the antiviral agent dapivirine has been shown to decrease the chance of developing HIV-1 in adult women over 21 and shown to be safe and well-tolerated in younger age group and is now in the first step for use in adolescents.

Dapivirine inhibits HIV’s reverse transcriptase enzyme, a protein vital to HIV’s ability to replicate and cause an infection. Each intravaginal ring contains one or more microbicides that are intended to be delivered into the vaginal compartment at a high concentration and to be directly absorbed by the cells and tissues. 

The flexible plastic ring, embedded with anti-retroviral drugs and sits on the cervix, is said to cut infection by 56 percent. 

Its usage gives women the freedom to protect themselves without relying on men to wear condoms as part of a drive to develop a device which women can use to protect themselves from HIV infection.

The drug will be used one month at a time and changed every month over a six-month period. 

At the end of a six-month trial to ascertain its effectiveness, researchers found that 87 percent of ninety-six sexually active girls who partook had detectable levels of the drug in their vagina. 

The study investigators concluded that the ring is safe and acceptable to young women. 

HIV doesn’t distinguish between a 16-year-old and an 18-year-old. Access to safe and effective HIV prevention shouldn’t either, young women of all ages deserve to be protected, said Sharon Hillier, principal investigator and vice chair of the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

If the ring gets regulatory approval, it would be the first method of prevention exclusively for women. The researchers said they were encouraged that the girls used the ring and said they liked it.
 
The study was reported at a conference about HIV science in Paris