Ahmedabad
Mirror: Ahmedabad: Tuesday, 16 December 2014.
In four
years, the number of HIV-infected people in the state has increased by 116 per
cent despite several target intervention (TI) schemes. And perhaps the biggest
failure of the state is in the implementation of female condom scheme. Reason:
National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) hasn't provided a single penny to
AMC's Aids Control Society (AMCACS) since its inception seven years ago.
According to
NACO's official website, AMCACS is responsible for effective implementation of
TI which helps in controlling the spread of infection among the vulnerable
groups in the city. Female sex workers, drug addicts and homosexuals top the
priority list in the TI programme. To provide better protection to female sex
workers, NACO introduced female condom programme in Gujarat in 2008. But an RTI
expose shows, NACO has not given any money for it to AMCACS.
POOR
ACHIEVEMENT RATIO
A worker from
Jyoti Sangh, an NGO working for women empowerment, said that the project failed
to take off in the city due to inadequate support from NACO. "The project
was started but no monetary support was provided. More efforts are made in
spreading awareness of male condom than female condom. This has resulted in the
failure of the scheme," she added. According to the latest NACO report,
Gujarat has the second highest gap, after Chhattisgarh, in the implementation
of female condom programme. Out of the total 8,315 targeted people, only 6,374
have been supplied with condoms, pegging the failure per cent to 40. As against
this, neighbouring state Maharashtra and Karnataka have achieved huge success
in the implementation.
PASSING
THE BUCK
An RTI
application was filed with the state health department by Mirror on October 13,
seeking information on "the total amount of money granted and utilised for
female condoms" in the city. The application was passed from one
department to the other but none of the three departments that received it had
any information on it. On October 27, the health department transferred the
application to Gujarat State Aids Control Society (GSACS) stating, "As the
subject matter of the required information is more closely connected with the
functions of your department, the same is entirely transferred herewith to you
for further necessary action."
On November
5, the application was sent to AMCACS. Passing the buck back to the health
department, AMCACS stated that it did not have any data on it. Finally, on
November 26, AMCACS Project Director Umesh Oza provided the data to Mirror,
saying no money had been provided to it. When contacted Jigisha Patel,
assistant director (TI) of GSACS, said, "As it is under NACO, they have
the compiled the data". To more queries, she said, "I was on vacation
so don't know much about it. But I will look into the matter."
ALTERNATIVE
FOR WOMEN
"Given
the low rate of male condom use in the drug using population, and gender-based
power imbalances, female condom is a good alternative for women, as it can be
controlled by the women themselves," states the India office of the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Female condom is a special plastic
sleeve-like device worn internally by the woman, which can prevent pregnancy
and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. This helps female sex
workers when their male clients refuse to use condoms.
"We get
many stubborn customers who refuse wearing condom as they get the 'real fun'
without it. Then female condom comes to our rescue. Wearing it, we can maintain
our clients and save ourselves from STDs," said a female worker associated
with Sakhi Jyot, an organisation that works with sex workers. A commercial
female condom packet costs more than Rs 20 whereas this condom comes for Rs 5 a
piece. But irregular supply makes sex workers more prone to infections.
"We don't get female condom regularly. In fact, over the past one year,
the supply has fallen and as the commercial condom is more expensive we can't
buy it," said a sex worker.
'NO
DEMAND'
In Bengaluru
and Mumbai, most pharmacists keep female condom due to rising demand. However,
when Mirror visited several medical clinics in Ahmedabad, none of them had
female condom. They said they do not keep it as there is no demand.
"People are unaware of female condom. We have never got anyone enquiring
about it, so we don't keep it," said Chandrakant Parekh of Arihant Medical
Store in Navrangpura. When the programme started, many clinics like Ashok
Medical and General Store stored a huge collection but the store ran into loss
when no one bought it.
"Unlike
Mumbai, the awareness of this product is limited to a few people. In two years,
only a handful of people have come to buy it," said Yogesh Patel of the
store.A member of Hindustan Latex Ltd said that lack of awareness and
male-dominant mindset obstruct the demand for female condom. "When male
condom was first introduced, it too wasn't accepted. But now there is a huge
demand for it among people of all classes. The same thing will happen with
female condom. Since, its inspection, it has picked up a lot, but there is need
for more education," she added.
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