Ms. Ongile represented by Adekemi Ndieli at an event commemorating Global Female Condom Day 2014 recently in Abuja said the low awareness about female condoms among women has been a major issue affecting its use in Nigeria, stressing that it is as effective as the male condom, therefore, more awareness was needed to promote its accessibility.
Ndieli who revealed that 14 million female condoms are produced annually against nine billion for men noted that advocacy for the female condom from the community level was needed to stimulate demand and increase access and availability.
She disclosed that the National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS), 2013, reported that only 28.6 per cent of women in Nigeria know about female condom while less than 0.5 per cent use female condoms, noting that, teenage pregnancy is high in Nigeria while 23 per cent of young women from 15-19 years had started child-bearing, with 17 per cent who have had a child and 5 per cent that are pregnant with their first child.
Earlier, Associate Country Director, Oxfam, Mr. Marten De Vuyst said the essence of the programme was to give Nigerian women the choice in terms of using the female condom to protect themselves against HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) and also to have a say in the family planning, adding that women have the same right as men as respect to reproductive nature.
De Vuyst stressed that stakeholders should scale up campaign for the use of female condom as a barrier to the exchange of body fluids during sexual intercourse that could lead to HIV transmission.
Other stakeholders at the event noted that the 2012 National HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health Survey (NDHS 2013) revealed that HIV prevalence was higher among females (3.5%) than males (3.5%), adding that 60 per cent of people living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa are women even though only 50 per cent of women are infected globally.
The stakeholders commended government's intervention on female condom programming in Nigeria, but stated that more should be done in the area of advocacy, availability, and accessibility and belief system of the people.
Meanwhile, the federal government has cautioned stakeholders in the health sector against the spread of HIV/AIDS in a bid to advocate for the use of female condom.
The Minister of Health, Dr Khaliru Alhassan said stakeholders in the sector should tread cautiously while introducing a new product into the market and to be cautious of what was being preached concerning the product.
Alhassan stated: “The usage of female condoms for eight hours should be between partners. For instance, in the case of commercial sex workers, they can use the same condom for different persons without removing it and through that they can spread the virus, thereby defeating the aims.”