Traditional leaders to promote use of female condoms
Queenmothers from some selected communities in the Greater Accra region have been admonished to promote the use of female condoms to help prevent unwanted pregnancies and other sexually transmitted diseases.
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The queenmothers were from Tema, Koteiman, Adabraka, Jamestown Ngleshie Afienaa Manye, Okaishie and Russia, Dansoman.
The call was made at a sensitisation meeting organised by Hope for Future Generations (HFFG) and Society for Women and AIDS in Africa (SWAA Ghana). Other participants present also included community and religious leaders and their representatives from Avenor, Ashaiman Freetown and Accra New Town.
The project is being funded by the Female Health Company (FHC) based in the Netherlands, and supported by the Ghana Health Service and SWAA Ghana, in collaboration with the Ghana AIDS Commission. It is being implemented in the Greater Accra, Central, Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions to promote the use of the female condom to contribute to improved sexual and reproductive health rights and choices for population groups in those regions.
In her welcome address, the Executive Director of HFFG, Mrs Cecilia Senoo, urged participants to take it upon themselves to “lead the advocacy team to educate young people in their communities to opt for the female condom as it is the only way females can personally prevent contracting Sexually Transmitted Infections [STIs] and unplanned pregnancies”.
The new female condom
The President of SWAA Ghana, Madam Gloria Dei-Tutu, said the project aimed at among other things, teaching people how to use the Female Condom2 (FC2), which was an improvement on the earlier one found on the market.
The FC2 is produced from a softer material compared to the earlier one and can be worn for a maximum of three hours, unlike the earlier one which could be worn for eight hours.
The FC2 also has fewer complications, compared to the first one and in emergency cases, could be used as a male condom.
The goal of the FC2 Project, according to Madam Dei-Tutu, was to promote the use of the female condom to contribute to improved sexual and reproductive health rights and choices for population groups in the Greater Accra, Central, Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions.
To achieve this goal, the project, she said, intended to galvanise the support of key stakeholders, distribute 400,000 female condoms every year and train about 500 women and men in the use and distribution of female condoms.
The queenmothers, for their part, called for intensive sensitisation on the use and advantages of the female condoms, alongside the use of different media houses to advocate the use of the FC2.