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8,4 million Govt condoms enough for three months in Namibia


THE Ministry of Health and Social Services says 8,4 million government condoms is enough to satisfy the needs of Namibians for three months.

This translates to about 2,8 million government condoms being distributed among Namibia’s sexually active population per month.

While admitting last week that they have been facing a shortage of condoms since June and July 2022, following a cancelled procurement process, health ministry executive director Ben Nangombe said they had again started receiving condoms in August.

“The Central Medical Stores (CMS) is the government’s main depot responsible for the procurement, receiving, storage, and distribution of pharmaceuticals to all health facilities. The CMS receives and processes orders on a daily basis. Stock allocation is based on stock availability. Stock availability is influenced by a number of factors, including challenges such as logistics which lead to delays in stock delivery,” said Nangombe.

“The CMS did experience a stock out of condoms this year following cancellation of a procurement process. Subsequently, a new process was initiated and completed and CMS commenced with receiving condoms already in August 2022,” said Nangombe.

The government has already received 3,9 million male condoms, as well a further 4,5 million condoms. These 8,4 million condoms translate into three months of stock for the whole country, he said.

Nangombe said an additional 12,5 million male condoms were expected to arrive in September, which would boost CMS stock levels to seven months worth of stock.

Meanwhile, Oshikango-based sex worker *Emilia Haufiku says she puts her life at risk every time she has sex with a client, many of who are from neighbouring Angola.

Haufiku says she and many other sex workers are using fewer condoms when having sex with clients. This is due to a shortage of condoms, which Haufiku says are no longer as freely available as they previously were.

“A few years back, you could walk into a bar and pick up your stash of condoms, they were in the toilets in restaurants, even as far as rural areas. But now, one has to go into the shops or straight to the hospital to get condoms.

“The shops are selling expensive condoms, and the hospital is far, and being stereotyped makes one scared to frequent healthcare centres to get condoms because of how the people would look at us. So, now we risk our lives for money,” says Haufiku.

The condom shortage is due to funding and procurement delays with governmental HIV-AIDS programmes, which have disrupted the supply and widespread distribution of free condoms.

Since 2013, the government, which procured and distributed free condoms through donor funding, saw a decline in the free condom distribution as donors reduced their funding.

Earlier last month, the health ministry disclosed that more than 11 700 children are born and live with HIV in Namibia, mostly contracted through breastfeeding.

Louis Stephanus of the Namibia Planned Parenthood Association noted the decline in condom distribution, particularly in remote and rural areas.

“We know that there is a decline in condom availability and distribution, and we are aware of new HIV infections which have derived from unprotected sex as those who cannot afford to buy condoms are put in vulnerable situations.

“Contraceptives are also scarce. We understand that we just came out of the Covid-19 pandemic, and all efforts and finances were channelled towards fighting the pandemic, but something needs to be done,” said Stephanus.

60% of pimps at Oshakati

Meanwhile, Oshakati is rated as the biggest hotspot for the availability of pimps, with about 60% prevalence in nine key hotspots.

Gobabis is in second place, with a 40% prevalence.

This was announced in the HIV Risk Hotspot Mapping And Key Population Size Estimation study, conducted in nine priority geographical areas of Namibia this year.

According to the report, this could suggest that soliciting for sex work by pimps could be staged at hotspots, while sexual activities are organised to take place elsewhere.

The report adds that each priority geographical area recorded hotspots in which people had sex.

“In these hotspots, there were individuals who helped people to find sex partners. Overall, approximately one quarter of the hotspots had spaces where patrons had sex,” the report states.

Katima Mulilo had over half (55,6%) of the hotspots reporting onsite sexual activities, while Otjiwarongo (46,2%) and Swakopmund (35,3%) are both above the overall average of 23,5%.

However, the report added that 43,8% of the key population of the study have suffered physical violence from sexual partners, spouses, boyfriends or girlfriends.

“Higher levels were reported at Gobabis (56,8%), Katima Mulilo (56,0%), Oshakati (51,7%), Walvis Bay (47,2%) and Swakopmund (45,7%),” states the report.

The report also explores the topic of sexual violence, finding that an overall of 42% of the key population of the study have been forced to have sex against their will, while 42,6% reported having been forced to have sex without a condom.

Katima Mulilo at 52% and Rundu at 51,9% reported the highest rate of forced sex experiences among the key population of the study, as well as forced sex without a condom at Katima Mulilo (64%) and Rundu (63%).

“Cases of sexual violence are generally high among key populations across the priority geographical area of the study. Even the lowest reports at Oshikango still affected over one quarter of the respondents,” states the report.

* Not her real name.





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