‘Panty Condom’ hits Ugandan market

“The attitude is already very bad,” Kibirige says, “Someone looks at your face and says this thing is terrible. And, yet it is a life saving commodity”.

However, Kibirige is now optimistic that the panty might work because, he says, the challenge has always been finding a more pleasurable condom.

Uganda has about 30 brands of condoms on the market. A condom market survey done by the Ministry of Health in 2016 shows that while there were 19 brands of condoms on the market in 2011, they had risen to 28 brands by 2016. At the end of 2017, another contraceptive giant DKT International based in the US joined the market with its KISS condom targeting the middle class. In total, the market volume has increased from 89million condoms in 2012 to 179million in 2016.

‘Only 19% can use condoms well’

However, Kibirige says that while all these brands are on the market, condom use amongst both men and women appears either stagnant or on the decrease. Between 2011 and 2016, the percentage of males and females using condoms increased slightly. In 2016, 21.5% of males and 21.3% of females reported using a condom the last time they had sex compared to only 19% of males and 12% of females five years prior. Among the unmarried youth while the figures were higher at 41% for the males and 54% for the females in 2016, there was a decrease from 62.7% among males in 2011 and yet the percentage of females remained unchanged even after five years.

Overtime, Kibirige says he has learnt that for a condom, whether male or female, to be used, there needs to be a lot of promotion activities done.

She says condom programming is four times the cost of the product and thus having the product alone doesn’t help. This is partly because, she says, they didn’t have resources to dispel the myths and teach many people how to use the device that the FC1 failed to survive its fifth birthday in the country. By 2003, when the condoms were to expire, their stores were still full.

“Even in areas that were still demanding the condom,” she added, “we later found out they were not using them for their purpose. In Karamoja for instance women wanted the ring to use it as bangles. Almost no one in western region was asking for the condom” she recalls.

Many other complaints came too as she recalls some saying the ring was uncomfortable, others it was noisy during intercourse. Stories that the condoms were sliding away and getting lost in the body also appeared to worsen the situation.

Very soon an improved version FC2 came to the market with a smaller ring making it easy to insert and made of polyurethane, giving it a no-condom feel. But still, Kibirige and her group have failed to get women to embrace the female condom, at least, to the success of the male condom. Of the 240million condoms needed every year, only 2million is the current need for the female condom.

“Women still find it weird,” Kibirige says, “They say it’s hard to put on.”

Muwonge sees no excuse in not using the panty condom. He says they inverted it after studying the flaws in all the old condoms on the market and that with it, one can be able to change positions during sexual intercourse.

But Uganda Health Marketing Group (UHMG)’s Timothy Damulira is concerned about innovation and sustainability on the market.

He says anything that concerns a change in behavior requires constant innovation and information because people tend to suffer from exhaustion using one product for a long time. For him, the search for a more pleasurable condom continues.

Indeed, UHMG continues to innovate even when they have already built a brand in the contraceptive world. They recently ferried in a new brand of male condoms that is chocolate scented and of a golden color.

Muwonge’s condom just like many on the market is planned to be sold both through the public sector, social marketing and commercially for those who can afford to buy out of the pocket. On the market, a packet of condoms costs between Shs2000 and Shs20,000 whereas the subsidized ones sold through social marketing go for as low as Shs500 per packet.

A 2016 condom use study by the Ministry of Health revealed that the value of the total condom market was estimated at $88million, a 95% increase from the market value in 2011. Commercial contributes to only 2% of the condoms used in the country, 19% are sold through social marketing. The majority get their condoms free through public sector at 79%.

In 2016, approximately 336 million condoms were needed to cover all risky sex acts in Uganda, about 212 million more than were needed in 2011. In 2011 alone, the need exceeded condom distribution by 67%. Muwonge hopes the panty condom will spring its own surprises.