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Midlands Bureau
GWERU district has recorded a surge in condom use with over 600 000 condoms distributed since January.
Condom uptake is said to be increasing because of Condom Champions (CC), who are working to ensure that people have easy access to condoms and so beating back sexually transmitted infections, including chlamydia, gonorrhoea and HIV.
Mr Petros Mazengwa of Gweru District HIV and Aids coordinator at National Aids Council (NAC) said NAC distributed 581 709 male and 24716 female condoms since January, a jump from last year’s totals of 369 167 male condoms and 18 863 female condoms.
Mr Mazengwa said NAC had engaged the services of CC, volunteers who are based in the wards and are involved in condom distribution, monitoring and information dissemination on combination HIV prevention.
“The district currently has 19 condom champions covering all wards in the district. The condom champions also support other combination prevention programmes by way of creating demand for services like HIV testing services, Voluntary medical male circumcision, prevention of mother to child transmission, cancer screening and others,” he said.
Mr Mazengwa said CC distributed 52 percent of condoms reaching out to our hotspots around Gweru CBD and at beer outlets in the suburbs.
“Some key populations like sex workers also liaise direct with our condom champions for supply of condoms. The condoms are also distributed in institutions of higher learning in the district,” said Mr Mazengwa.
“People are just used to male condoms. Even if you display male and female condoms you will notice that even most females also pick male condoms. Maybe it’s just a matter of tastes and preferences. Some people just have the perception that they are difficult to use, yet that’s not really the case,” said Mr Mazengwa.
He said condom use has been deemed an effective way of reducing HIV infection and unwanted pregnancies.
He said Gweru HIV prevalence is currently at 13.5 percent and incidence is currently at 0,32 percent. Mr Mazengwa said by the end of 3rd quarter of 2022, there were 16 213 people on anti-retroviral therapy being 7 929 males and 8 284 females.
Online Reporter