Trust is principal barrier to condom use

The objective of the survey was to determine the barriers to condom use by sexually experienced males and females. The study used data from sample surveys conducted in Luanda, Angola; urban Cameroon; Eritrea; Kenya; urban Mozambique; Butare, Rwanda; urban Zambia and Zimbabwe between 1999 and 2001.

Findings:

• demand factors are now more significant in determining whether an individual will use a condom than supply factors
• in most countries, respondents most frequently reported trusting their partner as the reason they did not use a condom with a marital or regular partner. In Mozambique, this was even true with casual partners. These findings show how important personal risk perceptions are in determining condom use in stable relationships
• this study confirmed previous studies that have shown that perceived condom attributes, the belief that condoms reduce pleasure, increase dryness and result in a loss of spontaneity, create important barriers to condom use
• the spontaneous nature of non-marital sexual encounters appears to be another important barrier to condom use
• the lack of availability of condoms was not seen as a significant barrier to condom use

The study concludes: “The lack of perceived risk of acquiring HIV appears to be one of the most important barriers to the use of condoms. The survey concluded that behaviour change campaigns that encourage personal risk assessment should be complemented with marketing campaigns that emphasise the positive attributes of condoms.” For males, trusting one’s partner was the most commonly cited reason for not using a condom in all countries (between 47% and 73%). Not liking condoms was the second most important reason in all countries. The third most frequently cited reason was not having a condom on hand at the time of sex (Angola and Cameroon) and partner objection (Zambia and Zimbabwe). [Author]