NDA sanctions panty condom acceptability study

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  | The long-awaited panty condom might be on the market within the next six months. The panty condom, which was brought into the country about two years ago had remained unused, to allow the National Drug Authority (NDA) time to prove that it’s fit for general use.

But now, Dr Moses Muwonge, the Executive Director SAMASHA Medical Foundation, a local non-profit promoting the condom said they have finished enrolling the women that will be taking part in the acceptability study after the authority approved the documentation for the acceptability trails to start.

The condom which comes in different colours is designed like a G-string which has a female condom into its design. It is a combination of lingerie and a contraceptive made of polyurethane, which enables a couple to have sex with undies on.

Muwonge says that the condom can be worn for hours before intercourse since it has an inner protective layer which protects the condom against friction, yet it also holds the condom in place during sexual intercourse.

He says Prof. Pauline Byakika, a researcher at the Makerere University College of Health Sciences who is the lead investigator in this study is set to start working next month.

For him, the idea of coming up with this condom is to give women a choice since studies have proved women to have better health-seeking behaviour. It also comes in at the time of declining condom use among men with recent statistics showing that condom use has reduced from 38 per cent in 2000 to 24 per cent in 2018, among men of 40 to 49 years, a group which has the highest HIV prevalence.

Uganda has had a female condom before having been first introduced in 1998 but it remains very unpopular among the general population. Muwonge says the challenges with the previous female condom was its marketing.

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