Expert Decries Ignorance On Female Condoms

An expert on HIV and AIDS prevention programme, Mr Farouk Musa, on Tuesday decried the low level of awareness on the availability and use of female condoms in the country.

Musa, who is Programme Manager, Enhancing Nigeria’s Response to HIV/AIDS (ENR), an NGO, told newsmen that most women were unaware of female condoms.

He said that female condom was as effective as the male condom, stressing that more awareness needed to be done to promote its accessibility.

“Most women do not know about female condoms, not to talk of even the males, we are trying as much as possible to make it available.

‘’In the last three months, we have distributed over 2,000 pieces of female condoms.

“And it’s surprising that women, even the educated ones, haven’t seen it before, so you can imagine the ordinary woman in the rural area.

“So, what we are trying to do is to try and make female condoms as popular and accessible as we have done for the male condoms.”

Musa said that although there were complaints from few women on its usage, there was need to follow the instructions in getting the maximum benefit.

He said that before now, the female condoms were expensive; stressing that government had given import waivers on condoms as part of efforts to improve the lives of Nigerians.

“Before now, the female condom was very expensive, that was one of our challenges, but now, it’s available, and it’s almost the same price with the cheapest price of condoms you can have in the market.

“The issue of condoms is not about pricing, for instance, the Gold Circle, the reason why it is very cheap is because we have import waivers on them.”

According to him, condoms are the only contraceptive that provides dual protection against pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, HIV inclusive.

He said that the goal of the ENR programme was to ensure that access to condom use should not exceed a 20 minutes’ walk in the urban areas, while in the rural area, it should be within a 15 minutes’ walk.

Musa stressed the need for collaboration with state governments, especially those with high HIV and AIDS prevalence, stressing that the measure would help to reduce the spread of the scourge.