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Interview
The Hunger Project has been distributing
female condoms since 2003 to its impact areas of Zomba,
Blantyre and Chikwawa districts. Our reporter DEOGRATIAS
MMANA caught up with the project’s HIV/AIDS and Gender
Officer Flora Longwe to find out the assessment of the
exercise. Excerpts:
What prompted The Hunger Project to start distributing the
female condom?
It was demand driven. It was during a focus group
discussion in 2003 at Jali epicenter in Zomba that one of the
women wondered as to why manufacturers of condoms only
manufacture a male condom and not a condom for women. What the
women did not know was that there was a female condom already.
So The Hunger Project started acquiring the female condom from
the UNFPA to supply it to the communities.
What reasons
did they give for preferring a female condom?
The women complained that they did not feel safe in
negotiating for safe sex in the wake of HIV and AIDS. They said
men used to cheat them. The women said men would tell them that
they had forgotten a male condom at a crucial time of sex during
which a woman would be powerless to do anything to postpone sex.
Other men would prick the male condom to deliberately infect the
women. Other men would pull off the condom in the course of sex.
So they wanted something that could protect them.
Did you carry
out much civic education as to how women should use the condom?
The Hunger Project brought the female condom to the
impact areas through its 160 HIV/AIDS projects using specialized
animators based in the impact areas. These animators train the
communities how to use the condom. We do not distribute the
condoms before the people are aware of how to use it. If the
users have any complications, they can go back to the animators
for help.
How may
condoms have you distributed so far?
A good number of women have benefited. I should also
point out that even men are accessing the female condom. A total
of 32,000 female condoms have been distributed in all impact
areas of Hunger Project Malawi thus Jali and Nsondole in Zomba,
Mpingo in Blantyre and Nchalo in Chikwawa districts.
You would be interested to know that 64.7 percent of the
women access the female condom while 35.2 percent are men. On
average, highest consumption level is 46 percent and it has
observed in the 19-30 year age group.
Yes, people
have access to the female condom but is it acceptable in the
communities?
On average, about 44 percent of all people that have
consumed these female condoms are repeated users against 56
percent of first users. This indicates that more people having
tried the female condom, are coming back to access it. This
provides evidence that the female condom is being accepted.
Since 2003 there has been an observable excitement and awareness
on female condoms.
A female
condom is expensive and scarce. What sustainable programmes do
you have in case UNFPA stops supplying the condoms to you?
Yes, indeed UNFPA is the sole supplier of the female
condom. At the moment we are advocating for increased supply of
the female condom. We have already approached the National Aids
Commission so that they can supply the condoms. NAC has told us
that they would facilitate the importation of the female condoms
and organizations would tap funding from it to purchase the
condoms. That would scale up the supply of the female condom.
Hunger
Project is renown for its fight against hunger. How does the
female condom come in?
While the primary goal for The Hunger Project is to
end hunger and poverty, the people involved in the fight in
rural areas cannot work if they are sick. The HIV/AIDS pandemic
has not spared them either. If we cannot protect them from the
pandemic, efforts towards ending hunger would be in vain as many
will be affected and infected. We do not want to see our people
busy attending to patients instead of working in the fields. We
want those that are already infected to avoid spreading the
virus further. You know HIV/AIDS is a multi-sectoral issue and
we cannot run away from it if we are to achieve food security.
By the way,
how different is the female condom from the male condom?
The female condom can be worn eight hours before
sexual intercourse while the male condom is worn just before the
act. It is very ideal indeed, for example, in the case of rape.
The woman cannot be infected if the man is HIV positive. Even in
the case of commercial sexual workers, this condom is the right
device. Men who force them to have unprotected sex would not
know that the woman is already protected. In homes too where
sometimes men come drunk and cannot manage to wear a male condom
this female condom is ideal.
What are some
of the disadvantages of the female condom?
There are no serious disadvantages. When it is worn
just before sex, it makes noise. That is why it is advisable to
wear it at least 30 minutes before sex to the maximum of eight
hours so that it has enough time to settle properly inside the
woman. It is also a bit expensive. In some shops it goes at
about K300. And it is difficult to get it. You would not find it
on the shelf. To get it you have to be on a list first.
What
misconceptions or myths about the female condom did you get from
the communities?
Some said the lubricant on the condom could cause
cancer. Some feared that during sex the condom could be pushed
deep into the inside of the vaginal wall and cause ulcers.
Others thought that the rubber would irritate them and this was
the same with the male condom when it was being introduced.
Others too feared that the inside ring of the female condom
would corrode inside the vaginal wall. But after using it, none
came back to complain.
There is fear
that some women might use one condom for more than one man and
that is dangerous. Is that possible by the way?
That fear could be there but it is everybody’s
responsibility to make sure that they are protected and that
they are protecting others. I do not see a reason why any woman
would use one condom twice after proper orientation and with
good supply.
Is there
consistency in the distribution of the condom in your areas?
Yes. When the distributor sees that his supply is
getting low, she immediately requests for more condoms to our
office and the office does the same to the UNFPA. You know for
condom use to be effective, the condom should be used correctly
and consistently.
What
challenges does your organisation have in the distribution of
the female condom exercise?
The main challenge is the supply. We are relying on
UNFPA only as of now. If it pulls out there will be problems. We
are also witnessing an increased demand for non-project impact
areas, which is an indication for need for scaling up.
How do you
see the future of the exercise?
It is promising. We just need to have more funding
agencies to supply or support work on the female condom as they
do with the male condom. |
