Foundation advocates easy access to female condoms

A non-governmental organisation (NGO), Education as a Vaccine (EVA) in collaboration with Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH) has described the lack of accessibility, affordability and availability of different brands of female condoms ‎as a major reason driving away the interest of women from using it.‎

The Global Female Condom Day (GFCD) is an annual day of education and advocacy dedicated to increasing awareness, accessibility and use of female condoms worldwide, stressing that through local actions, individuals and organizations advance the global movement for female condoms by participating in this international day of action.

Programme and Communication Officer, Education as a Vaccine (EVA), Ms. Mariam Patrick ‎disclosed this in Abuja at an event commemorating this year’s Global Female Condom Day 2015‎’, where the group called on the government to address the case of stock out in public health facilities.

According to her, “most people don’t use female condoms because they find it not accessible and not affordable, they don’t have a choice, meaning that there is no diversification of brands unlike the male condoms where you can get several brands, for female condoms we don’t have brands.”
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Communications Advisor, Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH), Esther Agbarakwe said, the population prevalence of 3.4 per cent according to the National HIV/AIDS & Reproductive Health Survey conducted in 2012 stated that female condoms are urgently needed to keep Nigerians healthy as Nigeria carries the second highest HIV/AIDS burden in the world with 3.5 million Nigerians living with the disease in 2014.

“Women and men across the globe and right here at home are dancing in parks, at community centres, schools, clinics and even the offices of public officials to clearly and categorically show their demand for female condoms. Today we put to rest the question of whether people want female condoms. It is clear that in fact we demand access to female condoms!”