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Background: In Washington, DC, a city with an HIV prevalence rate of 3%, women accounted for 30% of reported HIV/AIDS cases. In February of 2010, a funded revolution began in DC: A revolution to ensure access to female condoms. Funded by the MAC AIDS Fund, the Washington AIDS Partnership and the HIV/AIDS Hepatitis, STD and Tuberculosis Administration (HAHSTA); Five CBO’s began to promote the female condom. Tooled with a re-designed FC2, a social marketing campaign, a newly designed brochure, and a ton of creativity and passion to empower; the FC2 community partners set out to educate the community through targeted outreach and skills building workshops for women, girls and their partners.
Objectives: The Female Condom has been approved for distribution in the US since 1993. However, most Americans have little to no knowledge of its existence. This poster presentation details the strategies used to reach a broad spectrum of people in DC.
Methods: Three of the five community partners have come together for this poster presentation. These organizations include: The Women’s Collective – serving women and girls of color. Calvary Healthcare – serving women with substance abuse or incarcerated partners and faith communities/, Planned Parenthood’s Othelia Egypt Center – serving adolescents 14-24.
Results: In the first year of this initiative 265,478 female and male condoms were distributed to 383 sites in DC.
Conclusions: The FC2 provides another prevention option, especially for women. If prevention workers are armed with the right skills, and information on how to creatively reach their demographic, they are able to spread this tool to the masses.
Implications for Programs, Policy, and Research: This demonstrates how FC2 can be successfully implemented in communities providing people, especially women and girls, with another prevention tool that has not previously seen widespread adaptation.