Thirty-five-year-old Laxmi feels much safer now- thanks to female condoms. And she is just one in an army of sex workers who feel the condoms have given them a new meaning in life. "One in every three clients refuses to wear condoms. But after attending health awareness camps, I have understood the threat of AIDS and how it spreads through unprotected sex," Laxmi said.

"In the last few months we have got female condoms at very subsidised rate. When a client refuses to take protection, we go for the female condom for our own safety," Laxmi told IANS. Like Laxmi, there are tens of thousands of women across India for whom there is now an option to stay safe from HIV/AIDS even when their clients refuse to take protection.

Anusha is another commercial sex worker working in and around Hyderabad. She said: "Besides the health benefit, there is a monetary gain as well. Instead of refusing customers, especially those who are drunk, we go for female condoms.

"This practice helps in stabilising our earnings and at the same time keeps us away from HIV/AIDS," she said. Anusha and her fellow workers have even composed a Telugu song to hail the benefit of female condoms, popularly called FCs.

"Like a security guard has a gun, now female sex workers have an FC in their hand for protection," she said, speaking in Hindi mixed with Telugu. To cut down the threat of AIDS, the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) has distributed female condoms. The effort is paying off in empowering sex workers.