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Growing interest in the female condom
11 February 2003. Republished courtesy of IRIN PlusNews.
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National STI/Condom Week kicked off in South Africa with an announcement that the government had distributed one million female condoms at 200 sites last year.
Compared to the 220-million free male condoms distributed in the same period, this number seems like a drop in the ocean, but interest in the female condom (FC) is growing, reproductive health researchers told PlusNews.
Many HIV/AIDS advocacy groups see the female condom as a significant new alternative that women can use to better protect themselves against infection.
A social marketing campaign for the product, which has been running for the past two years, has been "hugely" successful, Society for Family Health (SFH) marketing manager David Nowitz told PlusNews. "As a result, we ran out of stock in July 2002," he added.
SFH has been working in partnership with the national health department to distribute the condom through pharmacies at a subsidised price. But the FC is also available free of charge at selected national sites, which are part of a collaborative project between the Reproductive Health Research Unit (RHRU), the Planned Parenthood Association of SA and the health department.
South African television has been screening advertisements for the FC, while one of the largest-selling women's magazines has also run a large campaign around it. Last year, about 135,000 were sold at pharmacies through the SFH project, 33 percent more than the previous year.
Selected pharmacies are now selling the FC under the brand name Care, at under R5 (US $0.5) for two. "This is less than half of what it would cost, so we are trying to make it affordable to everyone," Nowitz said.
He added: "But if you were to try and get it right now, you probably wouldn't get it. The country's biggest pharmaceutical wholesaler has indicated that the demand [for the FC] is increasing, but we don't have enough supplies to meet this ... we are waiting for the government to provide us with about 150,000 for this year."
Nowitz agrees that these numbers are still "relatively small", and attributes this to confusion about the size and shape of the condom.
Women complain that the sheath is big and baggy and looks strange. According to Nthuthu Manjezi, a project manager at the Planned Parenthood Association of South Africa, the FC is not popular among young people aged between 15 and 21 and is seen as "this big thing, which is not sexy or attractive".
But it has proved popular and is used more regularly by older women in stable relationships, as they are able to better negotiate its use. This is why advertising campaigns have targeted urban females aged between 24 and 30 who are established in their careers and have confidence in their relationships to insist on safer sex, Nowitz noted.
Despite being widely viewed as a "woman-controlled" method of protection against sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS, Mmabatho Mqhayi from the Reproductive Health Research Unit, warned that this could alienate men.
"It should not necessarily be identified like that but women can also emphasise the fun aspect of the condom when negotiating its use," she said.
Women who experience problems with lubrication during sex can use it as they are lubricated with an oil-based lubricant. The man can help insert the FC and this could increase the couple's sexual pleasure, she added.
Another advantage is that it can be inserted before sex so that it doesn't interfere with the moment of passion and it is not necessary for the man to withdraw immediately after ejaculation, as they do with the male condom.
"Ideally it should be seen as something to empower women, but it is mostly men who have a problem with condom use and their number one reason is that it doesn't feel as good [as having sex without a condom]. With the female condom, here is something that feels just as good," he said.
The female condom should not, however, be seen as a replacement for the male condom, Mqhayi warned. "It should rather increase [condom use] or fill in the gap," she said.
This item is delivered to the English Service of the United Nations' Humanitarian Information Unit but, may not necessarily reflect the views of the UN
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