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Onyebuchi Chukwu, Nigeria’s minister of health, and
Professor Oladapo Ladipo, president and CEO of the Association for Reproductive
and Family Health, recommended incorporating female condom use into family
planning programs to prevent unwanted pregnancies and to protect women and
children from increasing incidence of HIV and STDs. Chukwu reported that recent
studies indicated rising HIV incidence among Nigerians ages 25 to 29. Ladipo
stated that dual protection measures such as female condoms were especially
important because maternal morbidity and mortality were much higher in
developing countries such as Nigeria. He attributed the disparity to limited
access to quality reproductive health services and lack of reproductive health
knowledge among women.
Ladipo explained that most family planning programs
emphasized male condom use. Increased female condom use would offer more
contraceptive choices and allow for female-initiated protection. He urged local
women’s groups and youth groups, community leaders, service providers, program
managers, and professional health associations to engage in a coordinated
advocacy effort to share key messages about female condom use with the public
and private sectors and the donor community.
Chukwu agreed that female condoms could provide a means to
empower women for sexual health and noted that female condoms were an
“overlooked” life-saving commodity. Because female condoms were not well known
around the world, there was only a small global market at present. However,
Chukwu stated that Nigeria’s Ministry of Health had developed guidelines and a
training manual on female condom use for healthcare providers, and he believed
the coordinated advocacy effort for female condom use also would support the
integration of family planning with HIV prevention.
