For each condom bought, one will be donated to students in African universities.
The L Condom company is designed to deal with condom shortages in the countries where birth control and AIDS prevention is most needed, and to make safe sex easier and more fun for everyone involved.
Talia Frenkel didn’t mean to become a social entrepreneur. She was living the kind of life magazines write about: photographing disaster zones for the Red Cross and other nonprofits. On trip after trip, she began to notice a disturbing lack condoms in the countries she visited. According to the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, nine out of 10 African countries with high HIV prevalence goes through what’s called a condom stock-out–when stores simply run out of condoms–with stock-outs commonly lasting over two months. Those stockouts can be caused by a number of things, including poor planning, funding, or logistical problems.
“That was when I got angry,” says Frenkel. “HIV is a preventable disease, and I believe that access to condoms is a basic human right.” She decided to start a woman-focused social enterprise and harness the one-for-one model (buy one and one gets donated overseas) employed by other companies.
That company, L Condoms, will begin shipping its product this summer. Over the past four years, Frenkel has worked to make changes in condom materials, manufacturing, and distribution to make condoms better. According to the company, if contraception were broadly available in poor countries, more than 50 million unwanted pregnancies could be averted every year. The resulting decline in unintended pregnancies would bring down costs related to maternal and newborn care by $5.1 million.
When Frenkel started doing research into condoms and innovation, she felt stymied by the available offerings. “I knew that going into a condom aisle as a woman, there was no innovation in the condom industry. Just the branding, the look and feel, has a kind of a false male bravado. It doesn’t resonate with a modern feel of sexuality.”
via PSFK – Katharine Gammon
The Latest Streaming News: Safe Sex updated minute-by-minute
