1. Promoting Use of the FC2 Female Condom
Safer is Sexy
Promoting Use of the FC2 Female Condom

2. HIV/AIDS Today
In the last 5 years new HIV infection rates have decreased by 25% in the US and around the world.
– FALSE
More than 25 years into the AIDS epidemic HIV infection continues to exact a tremendous toll both in the U.S. and around the world.
According to the CDC, in the U.S in 2007:
Every 9 and 1/2 minutes, on average, someone is infected with HIV.
1.1 million people are living with HIV. Of these in 1 in 5 are unaware of their HIV status.
According to the World Health Organization Globally there are:
33.3 million people living with HIV/AIDS (15.9 million Women)
Over 7,000 new HIV infections a day in 2009 (almost 51% of new incidence in adults are women)

3. HIV/AIDS and Women FALSE
2) HIV infection is the leading cause of death for black women aged in the U.S.
FALSE
This was true until recently. It is suggested that increased access to testing and treatment has lowered the death rates in the United States. While people are living longer, healthier lives HIV infection rates are still increasing. Today in the U.S. women account for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses, with women of color being especially affected by HIV and AIDS.
It is estimated that approx. 1 in 30 black women will be diagnosed with HIV at some point in their life.
Black and Hispanic women accounted for 81% of the women living with HIV/AIDS in 2005 who acquired HIV through heterosexual contact and;
Heterosexual intercourse accounts for most HIV diagnoses among women (70% in 2006, CDC).
* CDC Statistics

4. STIs: The Big Picture – FALSE
Approximately 25% of people will have an STI at some point in their lifetime
– FALSE
In the U.S. more than HALF of all people will have an STI at some point in their lifetime. – Approximately 19 million new cases occur each year (excluding HIV)
The U.S. has the highest STI rates of any country in the industrialized world
1 in 2 sexually active persons will contract an STI by age 25
Estimates place the number of people living in the U.S. with a viral STI at over 65 million
It is estimate that each year in the U.S. untreated STIs cause at least 24,000 women to become infertile.
*Statistics Provided by the American Social Health Association & the Guttmacher Institute.

5. Women and Biological Vulnerability
The biological risk of contracting STIs and HIV through heterosexual intercourse is greater for women than for men
– TRUE
Women have more surface areas (cervix, vagina, vulva) to be exposed to body fluids and infections then men
HIV and other infections have an easier time surviving in the vagina than on the surface of the penis because the vagina is warm and moist, like an incubator.
Fluctuating hormone levels (during menstrual cycle, pregnancy or with age) can change the thickness of the vaginal mucous tissue. When this tissue is thin the vaginal environment is more vulnerable.

6. Unintended Pregnancy - TRUE (it’s 49%)
Almost 50 % of all pregnancies in the US are unintended –
- TRUE (it’s 49%)
By the age of 45, more than half of all U.S. women have had 1 or more unplanned pregnancies.
National Center for Health Statistics indicate that in women over the age of 40, 40% of pregnancies are unintended.
While, not always unintended - an average of over 450,000 babies are born to teenage mothers each year in the United States.
In 2005, reported abortions were performed on 195, year olds in the U.S. - There was an addition 6,800 abortions performed on girls under the age of 15.
* Statistics from the CDC and the Guttmacher Institute.

7. Dual Protection
FC2 has comparable effectiveness to the male condom in preventing STIs and unintended pregnancies.
- TRUE
16 years of research has told us the following- When used correctly
Female Condoms protect users against STIs
For Example- Studies have shown that the female condom can reduce per-act probability of HIV transmission by 97%.
Female Condoms prevent unwanted pregnancies
For Example- The World Health Organization, in a recent study comparing the male and female condoms, found them basically equivalent in preventing unintended pregnancies:
94 – 98% effectiveness for the female condom.
92 – 96% effectiveness for the male condom.
Communities are accepting of Female Condoms and the Options they provide
When FC2 is made available alongside Male Condoms in programs that provide education-
Protected Sex Acts go up!

8. Female Condom Efficacy
FC2 was created to try and improve the effectiveness of FC1
– FALSE
FC2 was created and launched in order to reduce the price to the client.
FC2 provides the same protection against HIV, AIDS, other sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy as FC1.

9. Thank You
For more information or to download resources please visit our website OR
The Female Health Company
515 N. State Street, Suite 2225
Chicago IL 60654
Rebecca Kizaric –