Female condom uptake low at MSU

FEMALE students at Midlands State University (MSU) continue to shun the female condom with their uptake still low compared to the male condom, a nurse at the institution has said.

Last year, there were reports that MSU returned 3 000 female condoms supplied by the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) as female students had not embraced them.

A nursing sister at the institution, Rhoda Banda said there were plans by the health department to increase awareness of the female condom in order to increase its uptake.

"They (female students) say the femidom (female condom) is uncomfortable and there has been low uptake of it," Banda said at the ZNFPC provincial first quarter meeting in Gweru last week.

"As an institution we have plans to hold awareness campaigns of the female condom in a bid to increase its uptake.

The female students embrace the male condom better that the femidom." Statistics, however, show that there is general low uptake of the female condom among local women countrywide.

According to ZNFPC for every 40 male condoms used, only one femidom was used. Women activists, however, attributed the low femidom uptake to gender stereotypes and cultural expectations about male and female sexual behaviour.

The female condom was introduced by Population Services International Zimbabwe in 1997 after Women and Aids Support Network (Wasn)advocated for its introduction on the Zimbabwe market.