Access

news feature

Nature 430, 138-140 (8 July 2004) | doi:10.1038/430138a; Published online 8 July 2004

Starting to gel

Helen Pilcher1

Top

In sub-Saharan Africa, there's an urgent need for creams or gels that can protect women from infection with HIV. Now the first large-scale trials are getting under way. Helen Pilcher reports.

Martha is a fairly typical South African teenager. At 15, she lost her virginity to a man ten years her senior.