On Saturday, free female condoms were distributed to women at the Lamar Edward Salon to spread awareness about HIV.

Gerald Armstrong, Co-Owner said that his salon is an ideal place for an open conversation about safe sex.

In District of Columbia, HIV infection rates have swelled six times than the national average. The district officials have therefore introduced an unusual campaign to help stop the spread of the disease. They plan to give out
500,000 female condoms at salons and community centres and offer informal training to educate women on how to use the little-known product.

Shannon Hader, Senior Deputy Director of the District's Department of Health, said that nearly 30% of women in Washington are infected with HIV, and that the numbers are increasing.

Hader said, "We are very, very concerned with making sure that women in the district realize that HIV, in fact, is a woman's disease too".

Earlier, female condoms were relatively expensive. But a new released version, called FC2, is cheaper and claims to be more user-friendly.

The city trained outreach workers to exhibit female condom use and then sent them into salons and college campuses to teach women.

Dr. Celia Maxwell, Director of the Women's Health Institute at Howard University, said, "HIV and AIDS has declared war on our communities, particularly on African-American women. And I feel that we are justified as health care providers to look for every single avenue to fight back".