1.2 million condoms distributed at ICASA 2015

There is a renewed emphasis on condoms at the18th edition of the International Conference of AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) in Harare, Zimbabwe from 29 November to 04 December 2015 as a campaign promoting their use and availability has been re-launched with the distribution of over one million condoms.

The CONDOMIZE! Campaign aims to highlight the effectiveness of condoms, male and female, for HIV prevention and calls on governments, donors and users to intensify access to, and demand for, quality condoms as a primary defence against HIV.  It advocates investing significant resources and materials into promoting condom use as the most efficient and available prevention technology in the global AIDS response. Challenging the stigma that still often surrounds condoms is also a key objective.

Picture taken from twitter.com

According to Adrian Gonzatez, creative director for CONDOMIZE, the most popular condom during ICASA 2015 was the glowing condom.

“A total of 1.2 million male condoms and 15 000 female condoms were put aside for distribution before, during and after the conference. The condoms that glow in the dark proved as the most favourite amongst members of the public because we completely ran out of them by Wednesday,” he added.

The initiative was born during the 2010 International AIDS Conference in Vienna and is a partnership between UNFPA and The Condom Project, in close collaboration with Bahamas Red Cross; DKT International, a social marketing NGO; Durex, the Female Health Company, the International AIDS Society and UNAIDS.

In addition to mass condom distribution, rap music with short videos has been created, using key messages from senior international leaders about the importance of condom use. These messages are being shown on TV screens throughout the conference.

Gonzatez said CONDOMIZE is campaign of attraction than promotion in modern and exciting ways by helping people understand very serious issues and the need to encourage condom use.

At ICASA 2015, the campaign is using education, distribution of the condoms, negotiation of condom use and destigmatisation.

The campaign noted that there is a considerable shortfall in condom availability in a number of countries. For example, in 2011 in sub-Saharan Africa there were only nine condoms available per man per year and only one female condom for every 10 women. These condoms were mostly provided by donors as most low- and middle-income countries do not have a budget line for condom procurement.