EXPANDING EFFECTIVE CONTRACEPTIVE OPTIONS: BRIEFS ON MALAWI & zAMBIA PILOTS

Expanding Effective Contraceptive Options (EECO), a USAID-funded collaboration between WomanCare Global, Population Services International (PSI), published a series of briefs detailing the process and outcomes of piloting the Woman's Condom in Zambia and Malawi. Expanding Effective Contraceptive Options in Zambia and Malawi: Understanding the consumer, lays out the development of in-country marketing strategies informed by strategic analysis of consumer and market information. In Expanding Effective Contraceptive Options in Malawi to include the Woman's Condom: Understanding the provider, the authors outline strategies employed in Malawi to overcome provider-side barriers to the introduction of the Woman's Condom including misconceptions and stigma.

Expanding Effective Contraceptive Options: Lessons learned from the Woman's Condom introduction in Zambia and Malawi distills the challenges and successes of product pilots in both countries into strategies that can be applied during the introduction of new reproductive health products in other contexts using a five-stage approach.

 

Finally, in Assessing the total market for female condoms in Malawi and Zambia, the EECO shares a list of recommendations for market development, including do's and don'ts for improving market conditions and demand for female condom products.

 

UTILIZATION OF THE INTERNAL/FEMALE CONDOM BY YOUTH IN WESTERN KENYA

Boraya JO, Githae C, Atandi TA, Gachau A. Social and psychological factors affecting utilization of female condom among youths in Migori County, Kenya. Health psychology open. 2018 Dec;5(2):2055102918815336.

 

Results of a cross-sectional descriptive study of youth attitudes, experiences, and utilization of the internal/female condom in western Kenya were published in Health Psychology Open in December. Three hundred and eighty participants, aged 18-35, were surveyed at three different sites in Nyanza. While participant age and religious denomination were not found to impact use or non-use of the female condom, marital status was negatively associated with use of a female condom during the prior six months. Focus groups were held to obtain additional information about participant knowledge, experience, and attitudes towards the female condom. While many participants reported knowledge of the female condom, few reported use of this method. Over three-quarters of participants reported that male sexual partners were the decision-makers about female condom use, and the remainder of participants indicated that not using a barrier method was a means to indicate trust of one's partner. Additional utilization factors included method cost, self-efficacy with regard to sexual decision-making as well as insertion of the female condom. The full text is available here.