What does it take to move the internal condom from awareness to meaningful choice?
At AIDS 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, the African Alliance, in partnership with the Female Health Company and Semina Brazil, put that question into practice. Booth 162 became an interactive demand-creation space where delegates could handle and learn to use the FC2, engage with trained demonstrators, explore evidence from six African countries, ask sensitive questions through our multilingual AI companion Amor, and connect conversations about prevention with pleasure, agency and access.
But the work did not stop at the booth. We took FC2 demonstrations and supplies into trans, gay men and sex worker spaces; launched Ring In or Ring Out?, our community-led exploration of how internal condoms are being used for anal sex; and began building a pleasure-centred approach to demand creation that recognises how people actually make decisions about sex and protection.
The Rio Report documents what we did, what delegates asked, what we learned and what comes next. Its central lesson is straightforward: demand creation cannot end with awareness. People need practical product knowledge, the confidence to use the FC2, space to ask questions without judgement, and a reliable way to obtain it once demand has been created.
Read The Rio Report and explore what we learned at AIDS 2026.
