Key clinical point: Women’s attitudes towards contraceptives affect their willingness to accept a novel HIV prevention product in the form of a vaginal ring; pre-emptive counseling to address women’s concerns may encourage acceptance.
Major finding : Women surveyed about their experience using a monthly dapivirine vaginal ring reported side effects related to menses, and expressed some concern about the long-term impact of the ring and contraception use on fertility.
Study details: The data come from a subset of 214 women of childbearing age enrolled in the ASPIRE trial at 15 sites in Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia who received a monthly dapivirine vaginal ring designed for HIV prevention.
Disclosures: The study was supported by the e National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute of Mental Health. The vaginal rings were supplied by the International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM). The researchers had no financial conflicts to disclose.
Source: Leslie J et al. BMC Womens Health. 2021 Apr 23. doi: 10.1186/s12905-021-01321-5.