Willingness to use female condom by college students in Ethiopia: a neglected intervention

AbstractBackground: Female condoms (FC) are integral components of sexually transmitted infections (STI) and HIV/AIDSprevention. There is a dearth of literature on the level of FC utilization in Ethiopia.Objective : The objective of this study was to assess awareness, attitude and willingness to use FC among college femalestudents in Harar town.Methods: Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted using quantitative and qualitative methods. A total of 844female college students in Harar town, East Ethiopia participated in the study in March, 2010. A multistage samplingtechnique was used to identify study subjects from the eight colleges. Data were collected by trained personnel using a pretestedstructured questionnaire.Result: From the total of 844 students, 794(94%) participated in the study. A total of 663 (83.5%) students had heard of FCand only 3.3% of students had experience of using FC. Almost half of the students had positive attitude towards FC and 40.9%of students were willing to use FC. Students living outside the campus (OR= 0.38, 95% CI: CI 0.15, 0.93) and students whohad no sexual experience (OR= 0.36, 95% CI: 0.26, 0.50) were less likely to be willing to use FC. Students who had poorknowledge about modes of HIV transmission (OR= 1.43, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.98), and students who had positive attitudetowards FC (OR= 5.99, 95%: CI 4.31, 8.34) were more likely to be willing to use FC. The qualitative findings revealed thatFC was not widely available in most of the health institutions and the students were not willing to use female condoms due tothe rampant negative attitude.Conclusion: Unavailability and negative attitude were the major barriers of FC utilization. The Ministry of Health andpartner organizations should promote the benefit and use of FC in the prevention of HIV and other STI (Ethiopian Journal ofReproductive Health , 2012,6(1): 30-36).