Female condom has low patronage

The female condom has low patronage in the country as compared to male condom, a baseline study shows. The study, conducted by the Society for Women Against AIDS (SWAA) Ghana, attributed the low patronage to the low level of sensitisation on the product when it was introduced to the Ghanaian market some years ago.

The one-year female condom use promotion, a collaborative project between SWAA, Ghana and DANIDA started in July last year to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of female condoms in some selected regions.

Mrs. Rebecca Attipoe, Project Coordinator, said the study was conducted in the Western, Central, Ashanti, Volta and Eastern regions to also promote the use of female condoms in the fight against HIV/AIDS and enhance women's reproductive health as well as their rights.

She said majority of the 650 respondents who were interviewed were convinced that the female condom was a good barrier against unwanted pregnancies as well as contracting sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS.

She explained that out of the total number of respondents, only 6.5 per cent had ever used the condom, which she described as "not encouraging". She said SWAA has since the commencement of the projected distributed 106,000 female condoms and will continue with the distribution after the project has ended.

To ensure the sustainability of the distribution, the project co-ordinator said the 30 community based distributors trained would be motivated to continue with the distribution of the condom.

She called for intensive sensitisation on the use of the condom and urged more men to encourage their wives to use the product. Mrs Bernice Heloo, West African Co-ordinator of the SWAA International appealed to all women to regard the female condom as a weapon and never feel shy to patronize it.