Experts hail HIV gel for women

The gel, hailed as breakthrough in reducing women's risk of contracting HIV, is unlikely to be sold over the counter.

Dr Koleka Mlisana, of the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Centre for Aids Programme of Research in South Africa, which ran the trials of the tenofovir gel, said its safety and efficacy would have to be confirmed by a third group of Aids researchers, and it would have to be registered, before it could be made generally available.

"It is going to take time. It is hard to imagine it being sold over the counter because tenofovir is an antiretroviral drug," she said.

The research was funded by the South African Technology Innovation Agency , the Department of Science and Technology, and the US Agency for International Development. The trials were conducted in KwaZulu-Natal.

The gel has been praised for its ability to empower women, who "bear the brunt" of the Aids epidemic.

The chairman of the Technology Innovation Agency, Dr Mamphela Ramphele, said the gel would make women "mistresses of their own bodies".

Mitchell Warren, director of the Aids Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, said: "This is a historic day for HIV prevention research ... the first clinical evidence that a microbicide gel can help to prevent sexual transmission of HIV."

The Cabinet welcomed the ''groundbreaking news'' of the success of the gel trial, said government spokesman Themba Maseko.