HLL Life Care Ltd – A Success Story
HLL (Hindustan Latex Limited) Life Care Ltd, Thiruvananthapuram under the Union
Health and Family Welfare Ministry has become one of the largest producers of
condoms in the world. HLL'stotal annual condom production capacity
has now touched 1616 million pieces. Overseas and domestic demand
for condoms has grown manifold especially in the wake of the Central
government's launch of free condom distribution in rural districts which is a
high-focus area for HLL. The company has started a major drive to
augment production capacity in its units. As part of this action
plan, the production capacity at its primary production plants in Peroorkada unit
has been enhanced from 1,066 to 1,246 million pieces per annum by installing
two moulding machines. The company also manufactures
condoms at its Belgaumand Hyderabad units, apart from Peroorkada.
"Demand in the domestic and the overseas markets are on the
rise. We are also on a major expansion drive to cope with the
need. In the last three months, we have added a capacity of 120
million pieces. Another round of expansion has also been
planned", said HLL Chairman and Managing Director Dr. M. Ayyappan. "We
supplied around 1,040 million condoms to the Health Ministry alone last
year. There has been added pressure with the Government launching
door-to-door delivery of condoms free of cost to stabilize the
population. Besides, a rising awareness among people is also driving
demand in the domestic sector. We are looking to bolster production
considerably during 2013-14 and remain as one of the world leaders", he
added.
The Union Health Ministry has identified 266 high-focus districts
in the country to deliver contraceptives at people's doorsteps with the help of
accredited social health activists (AHSAs) as part of efforts at population
control. HLL is the main supplier of products for this scheme.
As part of its drive to optimise production and minimise wastage,
the company has also installed a new vulcanising machine. The
new machine would help keep heat distribution at an optimum level resulting in
reduction of process wastages and rejections in vulcanising section apart
from reducing energy consumption. The company also launched trial
production of an over-wrapping machine in the packaging section.
Female Condoms, Femidom
Female condoms made their entry into the Indian market through HLL Lifecare Ltd. While
sales are slow among urban women, the female condom is being promoted by
government bodies and NGOs among sex workers as protection against
HIV/AIDS. Dr. M. Ayyappan noted, "Currently, we
are manufacturing around three million female condoms and 1,600 million male
condoms annually for the Indian and overseas markets. The difference
in numbers says it all." He attributes the reason to
conservative mindsets, ignorance about the product and accessibility. Since
the Indian market is slow to accept the production, HLL took a decade to make
the male condom as popular as it is now. Dr.Ayyappan is
confident that the female condom too will begin to make an impact in the right
direction in a matter of years. HLL plans to introduce the natural
latex based female condom by mid 2013 in the market.
The female condom was invented by Dr. Lasse Hessel, a
Danish physician in the 1980s. The first generation FC1 female
condom was made from polyurethane. First introduced in the market in
the nineties, the Femidom or female condom came at a time when people
were waking up to the scary reality of AIDS.
Condoms are still considered a men's product. At the
global level the female condom was quick to catch people's attention, thanks to
aggressive marketing techniques. This product received mixed reviews from
different quarters of the world. Getting used to the idea of wearing
a condom, for most women, was not worth the effort. Slowly, in other
countries, the Femidom made a difference in the lives of women who
did not have a say in their sexual health before the product came into their
lives. Women were using it to protect themselves against partners
who refused to wear condoms.
Most people are still unaware of female condom or do not have
access to it. Reports state that the demand though has come from
unexpected quarters like developing countries where women felt empowered with
choice to use protection.
The next version, FC2, was made from synthetic nitrile at
a reduced cost. The World Health organization (WHO) approved the FC2
for purchase by U.N.agencies in developing countries where the Femidom played
a strong role in sex education programmes for women.
From an acceptability study conducted by Hindustan Latex Family
Planning Promotion Trust (HLFPPT) in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra,
it was found that people were open to the idea of using female condom. More
than 90,000 female condoms were marketed in Andhra Pradesh through a social
marketing programme in 2006. The following year, a similar
plan was executed in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra and
West Bengal. In 2008, National AIDS Control Organization (NACO)
decided to make female condom available to sex workers in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and
West Bengal. FC2 female condom gives women control and choice over
their own sexual health as women can protect themselves when their partner does
not want to use a male condom. Women in urban and rural areas in
India have not started using Femidom to complement already existing
family planning and HIV/AIDS programming.
HLL has its female condom assembling facility at Cochin Special
Economic Zone (CSE), Kakkanad. "Currently the annual
capacity of Kochi factory is 7.5 million pieces. We will be adding another
25 million by the end of this year. Apart from supplying female
condoms to national programmes under the ministry of health and
family welfare, we also export female condoms to be South Asian Association of
Regional Co-operation (SAARC) markets", said Dr. M. Ayyappan. "Female
condoms have the potential to revolutionize safer sex for diverse
populations. They are also the only women - initiated method
available today that offers dual protection from unintended pregnancy and
sexually transmitted infections including HIV", Dr. Ayyappan explained. Global
female condom day is being observed on September 12 every year. HLL
produces female condom under the brand name "Velvet".
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