Christina Scott
CAPE TOWN, Apr 27 2006 (IPS) – Mafuta is the word used by Kennedy Mundia to describe the colourless, odourless gel that he wants 1,500 women in the Southern African country of Zambia to try out, starting next month.
The word can mean a variety of things in the Ngoni language. In this case, mafuta means lotion, or moisturiser like Vaseline, suggests Mundia, who works in the southern Zambian town of Mazabuka. Only it really looks like hair gel.
But, Mundia is not a hairdresser. He is the community liaison officer at a clinic for the Microbicides Development Programme, one of several international initiatives concerning microbicides that are underway at present. The programme is funded in part by the United Kingdom s Department for International Development.
Microbicides are gels or creams that women can apply inside their vagina before sex, explained Gita Ramjee, director of the HIV Prevention Research Unit at the Medical Research Council in South Africa a body that receives financial support from government, but also enjoys statutory independence. She was speaking at Microbicide 2006 , a meeting held every two years for researchers in the field that wraps up Thursday, in the South African coastal city of Cape Town.
These concoctions don t look powerful. They are discreet and relatively inexpensive, often coming wrapped in a small envelope which can easily fit in a purse or pocket. If a woman can use a tampon, she can certainly insert this thin tube of gel, tap the plunger to release the contents, and throw away the applicator.
While conclusive research on the effects of microbicides is still ongoing, initial findings indicate that they protect against HIV a source of hope for women who risk contracting the virus from partners who refuse to use condoms. In Africa, the low social status of women often prevents them from insisting on the prophylactics.
The gels also guard against other sexually-transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea and chlamydia, both of which can trigger infertility, and herpes. Other gels resist the human papilloma virus, which may cause cervical cancer.
The thing to remember is that fighting any sexually-transmitted disease helps in the fight against AIDS, since the damage caused by the less serious diseases makes space for the AIDS virus to enter the body, notes Janet Darbyshire of the British Medical Research Council another agency that is funded in large part by government, but which has statutory independence.
As a result, public health services in the developing world are waiting anxiously for the results from tests carried out by the Microbicides Development Programme, and other initiatives.
Microbicides are our best hope, says Mundia. I m not a believer in abstinence and condoms. You never know what people are doing behind closed doors.
The gel that the programme will be trying out in Zambia is already being tested by women elsewhere, in Tanzania, Uganda and at three sites in South Africa. In all, five different types of creams and gels, each with its own strengths and weaknesses, are in advanced stages of testing in Asia and Africa.
Other formulations have already passed through initial trials with great success, and are now being subjected to even more rigorous tests of their effectiveness in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and India, among other countries. The organisers of Microbicide 2006 say that 30,000 women on the African continent will be involved in testing the products.
Don t expect to find any on the pharmacy shelves soon, however.
Scientists have been stung before by discovering that creams which showed great promise in tests proved disastrous outside the laboratory. The much-touted microbicide known as nonoxynol 9 actually increased the chances of women contracting HIV.
Now, researchers proceed very carefully, offering women (often illiterate, frequently poor) an array of explanatory warnings and promises of health care before enrolling them in any experiment as those using a placebo in the course of the trial may become HIV-positive.
Pending a conclusive outcome to microbicide trials, many pharmaceutical businesses have adopted a cautious wait and see attitude but not all.
Indevus Pharmaceuticals in the United States, which specialises in gynaecological research, is involved in the Microbicides Development Programme producing gels used in one set of trials. Bristol Meyers has licenced patented chemical compounds for investigation by the Microbicides Development Programme.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, based in the U.S. city of Seattle, has also come on board. This charity, founded by Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, has earmarked 60 million dollars for microbicide research.
In addition, there are advantages to not having big business playing a major role in the proceedings. The researchers currently involved in rival trials for microbicides share information freely with each other, something that may increase the speed at which results become available and result in cheaper, final products.
Ramjee warned, however, that results from the most advanced medical trials would only be ready at the end of 2007. And even if governments fast-tracked the approval of microbicides, the gels were unlikely to be on the market before 2010.