WOMEN will get the power to protect themselves against AIDS, if the World Health Organisation has its way. Encouraging men to use condoms, it has decided, is not enough. They work, but many men dislike them; and women, especially very young ones, often lack the sexual bargaining clout to insist. Instead, the WHO believes, pharmaceutical companies could have still-to-be-perfected microbicidal vaginal gels or sprays on the market within two years--if they are given a bit of a push. Vaginal gels have been around for decades, but until recently were not taken into account by AIDS researchers. Most were contraceptive barriers; some were aimed against sexually transmitted diseases