WHERE
UAFC Joint Programme works in Nigeria and Cameroon to make the female condom accessible. The large scale country programmes are locally owned and run by a national steering committee, and implemented by a set of local actors: a combination of civil society organizations, the government, UN-agencies and the private sector.
Nigeria Country Programme
UAFC Joint Programme has chosen to work within Nigeria because of the huge population numbers, and the relatively high levels of HIV infection rates and relatively low-to-medium levels for contraceptive rates and need for family planning. Furthermore one of the UAFC partners already had extensive contacts with various organizations that expressed their interest in a large scale femal condom programme.
Female condom demonstration in Nigeria (foto R. Bodegraven)
The Society for Family Health (SFH) in Nigeria is the lead organisation to implement the programme there. SFH already holds 80 per cent of the male condom market in Nigeria and has vast experience in marketing and distributing condoms. The female condom programme works largely by providing female condoms through the private sector (pharmacies, hair dressers, beauty parlours) whereas the government and UNFPA work within the public sector (family planning clinics). The women’s organisations combined with the private outlets within the SFH distribution network give the programme a huge outreach.
