Partners plan to launch condom programme policy

THE National AIDS Council Secretariat (NACS) partnering with the United Nations AIDS and UN population fund (UNFPA) are planning on introducing the country’s first comprehensive condom programme policy.
“We’ve just completed the comprehensive condom programme that is going to guide the condom procurement, distribution and sustainability around the country starting next year,” NACS acting director Tony Lupiwa said.
The secretariat plans to launch the policy at the beginning of the year before preparations for the general elections.
The policy offers a guide to condom distribution in the country with the hope that the Government will support the initiative in ensuring easy access to condoms nationwide.
Lupiwa said the National Capital District had the highest recorded HIV transmission rates in the country followed by Enga and Jiwaka.
The Health Department has began distributing condoms to the Southern region, focusing on those provinces with the highest burden or highest rates of positive cases.
According to NACS advocacy and social mobilisation manager Valentine Tangoh, the council emphasised the need for support from the private sector when it came to distribution of condoms.
He said the secretariat had reached out to companies on how they could support the imitative but the response had been mostly negative.