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Earlier this week, a news story containing a disturbing statistics came to light that will shock most readers. Nearly, 5000 schoolgirls in Johannesburg, South Africa, became pregnant in just one school calendar year. Before you attribute this mass teenage pregnancy to rural illiteracy, lack of electricity, lack of television and all those excuses, let us call to mind that, three weeks ago, it was also reported that 90 girls were known to be pregnant in a single school in Tennessee, United States. This did not happen in a slum in Nairobi, Accra, Abuja, or Harare. It happened in the heart of the United States.
I am neither a sociologist nor a psychologist and so I will not attempt to ascribe rationale for these mass pregnancies. Some have referred to them as Pregnancy Pact, Pregnancy Covenant, and others.
The unfortunate situation is that some (may be most) of these girls would never become what they dreamed of becoming: teachers, pastors, parliamentarians, ambassadors, or doctors. Those who will ever get there will do it by the hard, tortuous way. As for the boys, on other hand, no problem. They can achieve whatever they want to achieve in life with minimal drag from the children who will result from these pregnancies. Some of them will later look down upon these girls as failures and fools.
I need to admit that I do not have data to base this on, but from my personal experience and assumptions, I would assume that most the boys or men involved in the adventure that led the girls into these situations knew of the plastic material called the condom. The never used it. On the other hand, and of course, this is my personal assumption; it is likely that most of the girls were oblivious of whatever options they had that could have prevented what they carry in their immature wombs.
How do we help young girls avoid these situations?
Give Women The Necessary Information:
As usual, many of the parents of these girls perhaps assumed their children were innocent. Well, they are not. In an interview with one of the South African to-be moms, this is what she said
“It’s fashionable to have a baby. You are like a fool if you don’t have sex”
As I have said here a few times, it is vital that parents, teachers and authorities provide young girls and women with the information they need and tell them they too have an option.
They can say NO and IT IS OK TO SAY NO!
If they cannot or do not want to say no, then they have an option, the female condom. The female condom is over 95% effective in preventing HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases, and unwanted pregnancies. Most women have never heard this nor seen it. It’s shame and irresponsible that several years of campaigns have focused solely on the man and the options he has in sexual encounters. In the above unfortunate situation, it is easy to focus only on the teenage pregnancy, but it is important to realize that some of these girls that are not lucky may contract other STDs like Human Papiloma Virus/HPV, Herpes Simplex Virus/HSV, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea and Syphillus.
By equipping these girls with ignorance, we are in essence, cursing their the futures.
An estimated 22.5 million people are living with HIV in the part of African below the Sahara – around two-thirds of the global total. In Ghana alone, there are approximately 260,000 people living with HIV/AIDS with 140,000 being women and 27000 being children. Ghana can count close to 160,000 orphans as a result of HIV/AIDS. In fact, Ghana is not among the worst hit countries; South Africa and Uganda for example, have worse numbers.
To some readers, this is just one of those statistics, but it is life and death to hundreds of families and institutions. The social and economic consequences of the AIDS epidemic are far and wide felt: in the African health sector, in education, industry, agriculture, human resources and the economy in general.
In terms of preventive or ‘prophylactic’ measures, the anti-HIV/AIDS campaign hitherto has riveted on promoting the use of the male condom.
Regrettably, however, in many communities in Africa, it is a severely stamina-testing exercise to convince some men embrace the use of the male condom. It is a complex issue that borders on tradition, religion and ignorance. This is compounded by the fact that in almost all cases, it is the man who cleaves to power in sexual relationships. Customarily, in the African ‘sexist society’, the man can choose to have multiple wives or one wife with multiple sexual partners. A woman who practices such a modus vivendi is referred to as a prostitute. It is unfair and effluvium for the party who wields the power to also decide on the means of protection in sexual relationships. I regard it a woman’s right issue to guarantee that women have the wherewithal to protect themselves in sexual relations.
But what is wrong with the male condom?
The campaign to promote the male condom has been going on for decades with some progress. Nevertheless, such progress does not well correlate with the efforts that have been expended. Some of the pretexts some African men put forward in opposition to the use of condoms include the following:
Condoms diminish pleasure or enjoyment of sex
Condoms ruins the mood
You cannot feel anything while wearing a condom
If a women loves a man, then she you should just trust him
in order for sex to be real, fresh must come into contact with fresh (of course, condoms make this pre-requisite unattainable)
Some even think it is sin to use the condoms during sex
For these reasons, I advocate that future anti-HIV campaigns adjust the current model and focus more on promoting the use of the female condom. The female condom should be promoted as an alternative to the male condom and should be available to all sexually active women. I believe that there should be a sharpened campaign to give credence to the female condom in African communities until it ultimately becomes a mainstream accessoryin the woman’s purse.
The Female Condom:
The female condom is a thin, soft loose-fitting polyurethane plastic pouch that is used during intercourse to prevent pregnancy and reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. It has flexible rings at each end. Just before vaginal intercourse, it is inserted deep into the vagina. The ring at the closed end holds the pouch in the vagina. The ring at the open end stays outside the vaginal opening during intercourse. And during anal intercourse, it is inserted into the anus.
The penis is directed into the pouch through the ring at the end, which stays outside the vaginal during the intercourse. By covering the inside of the vagina or anus and keeping semen and pre-cum out, female condoms reduce the risk of sexually transmitted infections. Why the Female Condom.
The female condom is more acceptable to most men as it does not constrict the penis as do latex condoms and hence does not result in a significant decrease in sensation.
It gives the woman some amount of power which in most cases is totally vested in the man.
It provides an opportunity for women to share the responsibility for protection with their partners
Research shows that, if women always use the female condom correctly, only 5% of users will report unexpected pregnancy each year. It can even be made more effective if used with a spermicide.
A woman may be able to use the female condom if her partner refuses to use the male condom
Unlike the male condom which is inserted in the heat of the moment and can therefore ruin the mood, the FC or FC2 female condom can be inserted up to 8 hours before intercourse so as not to interfere with the moment.
While the statistic continue remain ugly, it is vital that women take charge over their own health and not depend solely on their partners in making decisions relating to sexual matters.
How Do We Get There?
The main disadvantage of the female condom is that it is three times more expensive than the male condom and therefore beyond the means of women in most African communities where the average income is less than a dollar a day. (The cost of the female condom is between $2.50 -$5.00). This is the gap that the Government, Non-governmental Organizations and Foundations involved in the anti-HIV/AIDS campaign need to fill. By making the female condom easily accessible to all sexually active women in Africa, including prostitutes, we as a nation will make significant advancement in the fight against HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy.
Again, even as we have done in the past and continue to do with the male condom, we need an aggressive campaign to educate our women that they have an option. Empower the ministries of health to provide free samples to sexually active women whenever the visit any health facility. The media should play their role, community leaders should not be left out, and religious organization should recognize that their support is vital.
The statistics are premonition, but it is not too late to apprehend the trend. The cost will be worth it.
I stated: The main disadvantage of the female condom is that it is three times more expensive than the male condom and therefore beyond the means of women in most African communities where the average income is less than a dollar a day. (The cost of the female condom is between $2.50 -$5.00).
Correction:
The cost of the FC2 Female Condom is around $0.60 for governments and donors and lower with increased volume. The $2 price is what FC1 costs on the shelf in a retail drug store in the US. The FC2 was developed to lower the cost of the female condom with intent to increase access to women in Africa. It has same design but different material and different manufacturing process which allows for the significantly lower cost.
