As the world celebrates International Condoms Day, Rwandans were urged to use condoms regularly and responsibly.
This comes a day before Valentine’s Day, which is expected for lovers to engage in sex, thus the reminder to use condoms for safe sexual behaviors.
It is very important to bring visibility back to this safe, inexpensive and highly effective tool to prevent transmission of HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unplanned pregnancies.
International Condom Day helps to address public health challenges related to sexual health and HIV/AIDS prevention, promote access to condoms, advocate for comprehensive sexual health education and encourage people to take proactive steps towards protecting themselves and their partners.
On the availability of condoms, Dr Basil Ikuzo, Director of AIDS prevention in Rwanda Biomedical Centre, said that: “Condoms are available in different ways. we offer free condoms at over 600 health centers, we have 10 condom kiosks all over the country where people can go and get free condoms, and we also have different shops and supermarkets selling condoms.”
In 2014, the Government of Rwanda through the Ministry of Health, in partnership with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and the City of Kigali (CoK), launched a new effort, an innovative approach to ensuring easy access to condoms in HIV hotspots in the capital city of Kigali. The innovative approach consists of installing kiosks in different areas through which condoms are distributed freely in the community.
The kiosks have been strategically placed throughout the cities in districts frequented by those at a higher risk of HIV infection, such as young people and commercial sex workers.
The condom kiosks can be found in Gatsata , Gikondo MAGERWA , Nyamirambo (Matimba), Remera (Migina), Remera Giporoso, Gisimenti 1 (Car free zone), Gisimenti 2 (Car free zone), Ku Mukoni (Huye District), at the market (Rusizi District), and at Petite Barriere (Rubavu Districts).
With no criteria required to access condoms, anyone above 18 years can just go to the kiosk and can take a maximum of 8 condoms at once in order to increase responsible use of condoms, and this depends on the needs of the person.
According to DHS 2020, HIV prevalence in Rwanda has been stable since 2005 and remains at 2.7% among adults age 15–49 (3.5% among women and 1.7% among men). HIV prevalence increases from 0.7% among respondents age 15–19 to 8.1% among those age 45–49.
HIV prevalence is higher among respondents who are widowed (14.7%) and those who are divorced or separated (9.8%) than among those who have never been in union (1.4%) and those who are currently in union (2.9%), and Uncircumcised men are more likely to be HIV positive (2.5%) than circumcised men (1.1%).
