Female Condoms Not Catching On

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You & Your Family

Friday, 03 August 2012 02:30

By caribarena news

Antigua St. John's - Despite years of promotion outlining the benefits, nationals have not completely warmed up to female condoms, according to AIDS Programme Manager Delcora Williams.

The disclosure comes as the AIDS Secretariat, along with its partners, continues its mass condom distribution programme during the ongoing carnival festivities.
 
"What we find is that the Spanish population (nationals of the Dominican Republic) uses them a lot, whereas we still have to promote them with the general population," Williams noted.
 
"It allows for more flexibility than the male condom and we try to push the positives about it so more women would use it. It empowers a woman and we're hoping that women would start using it as they do with the male condoms."
 
An estimated 9000 male condoms and 6000 female contraceptives were included in packages distributed to revelers and onlookers during last Saturday's Carnival Opening Parade.
 
Also included were lubricants, dental dams and leaflets containing HIV information.
 
The secretariat - on its fifth outing in the Opening Parade - wove the Olympic theme into its HIV message, earning the title of Float of the Year for the third consecutive time.
 
Entitled “Colours in Motion in HIV Prevention”, the slogan of the Scotiabank sponsored float was “Racing towards zero HIV infections, zero deaths and zero stigma discrimination”.
 

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The secretariat, with its partners, identified four hurdles to achieving the targeted zero HIV rate: know your HIV status, care treatment and support, adherence, and no stigma and discrimination.
 
"Every year for carnival, we try to ensure that people are aware that HIV has not gone to sleep and we are still supposed to be acting responsibly bearing in mind we can still contract HIV. People tend to get drunk at this time and some persons might tend to have unprotected sex because their inhibitions are lower," Williams stressed.
 
The secretariat has also been distributing condoms and other HIV awareness material at carnival shows including at the traditional Lions dances.
 
The AIDS Secretariat hands out in the region of 12 thousand condoms during carnival celebrations annually.
 
Up to the end of 2011, some 919 cases of HIV were recorded in Antigua & Barbuda.

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