A recent study has found that 41% of nurses in Johannesburg are not willing to promote female condom use.
This comes as recent stats show that the HIV prevalence among young women in South Africa is nearly four times greater than that of men.
According to Stats South Africa, approximately one-fifth of women in South Africa in their reproductive ages, 15 to 49 are HIV positive.
The female condom has proven to have the ability to prevent sexually transmitted infections, HIV and pregnancy.
The aim of the research was to assess the relationship between nurses’ knowledge of and their willingness to promote female condom use in 18 public healthcare facilities within the Johannesburg District.
Three hundred and nighty eight nurses completed an anonymous questionnaire.
One of the researchers, Dr Magdelena Petkova says the study found that 79% of participants were knowledgeable, but only 59% were willing to promote female condom use.
Petkova says the reason why nurses are not willing to promote the condom is because the workload and the burden in the clinics is very high and stigma is still also a big component.
“The nurses say it will take more time speaking to the patients and trying to introduce them to that condom.”
She says the nurses also feel that the male condom is still more fashionable.
Petkova says, “Nurses need to start promoting. Government needs to make policies for clinicians to start promoting more and more because in the clinics the female condom lies next to the male condom. Communities need to be told how to use it and the advantages, such as the low side effects.”
“In the post natal wards, when the ladies are discharged with their babies, the nurses need to talk to them about female condoms; not only injectable and oral prevention with hormonal treatment of prevention of unwanted pregnancies.”
Click below to listen to the full interview:
One nurse, Eldah Radebe, who owns a clinic in Johannesburg says she has no problem with promoting the female condom.
However, she says, “With the kind of population we have, they just close their eyes and say my husband won’t like it.”
Radebe agrees that stigma is a problem as women do not take the condom because they think people will call them whores.
“People ask themselves why should I carry this? What is my husband going think of me carrying this all the time? So the husband is the person that must carry it, even if they take the condom they will take the male one.”
Another Johannesburg nurse who chose to remain anonymous says she also does not have a problem with promoting the female condom, but she says the only problem is that it is underused as people are used to the male condom.
She also states that the reason why women always take the male condom is because of their partners are not comfortable with the female condom.
“So, I don’t think the issue is with the females. It’s the partners who have an issue with the female condom.”
