The UNFPA Country Representative to Sierra Leone, Nadia Rasheed has said only 6% of women and 21% of men use Condoms in Sierra Leone, which according to her is a concern. She was speaking in Freetown to journalists ahead of the International Condom Day.
Nadia said there is a high rate of adolescent pregnancy and STI because people are not using condoms, while calling on the people of Sierra Leone to destigmatise condom use and work together to increase access to information about health.
She said her Organisation distributed eight million six hundred thousand (8.6M) Condoms in 2023 in the country.
She disclosed that they partnered with the Ministry of Health and partners for the distribution of three million five hundred thousand United States dollars (US$3.5M) worth of contraceptives in 2023 and that UNFPA is proud to collaborate with the government and partners to address issues related to confirmed use.
The UNFPA Chief assured that the UNFPA is firmly committed to ensuring people have access to the resources and stop the barriers.
Similarly, Director General of the National Aids Secretariat, Abdul Rahman Sesay has said Condom use is a critical health element in Sierra Leone, emphasising that there are lots of barriers to Condom use which must be broken.
He said they aim to improve access in addition to partnering with the private sector to ensure the realization of their goal. Sesay emphasised the need to promote social marketing and distribution and called on the public and private sectors to make their products very accessible.
For his part, the UNAIDS Country Director, Isaac Ahemesah said Condom use protects people from HIV, STI, and unplanned pregnancy. He disclosed that new HIV infection in the country has decline as they put people on live-saving drugs.
