If you bring your index finger to your thumb then make a circle, that’s about how small this silicone ring is.
Its size is tiny but its impact enormous, which is why SAHPRA’s decision to give South Africa the regulatory go-ahead to make the dapivirine vaginal ring (DVR) available monthly to women 18 and older has been lauded by women’s health and reproductive rights advocates as seismic.
In South Africa, nearly 2 700 women aged 15 and older acquire HIV every week, according to the International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM), the nonprofit which led the SA and Uganda Phase III trials demonstrating the ring’s safety and efficacy. The decision by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) to approve it “marks a major milestone that brings the first long-acting and woman-controlled product another step closer to reaching women”, said IPM in a press statement.
