UNFPA’s Country Representative to Sierra Leone, Nadia Rasheed, has said in Freetown that her organization had  distributed, just in 2023, at least eight million six hundred thousand (8.6M) condoms to some beneficiaries in the country.

She said their partners: Ministry of Health and Partners for Health help in the distribution of about three million five hundred thousand United States dollars (US$3.5M) worth of contraceptives to the beneficiaries in 2023.

Nadia told journalists at a news conference on the International Condom Day slated for Wednesday February 2024.

She said UNFPA is proud to collaborate with the government and other partners to address issues related to confirm use.

She pointed out that condom use in the country is low as only 6% of women and 21% men use condoms which she noted is a concern.

Madam Nadia noted that there is high rate of adolescent pregnant cases and STDs because people are not using condoms.

She called on the people of Sierra Leone to de-stigmatize condom use adding that they must work together to increase access to information about people’s health.

“UNFPA is firmly committed to ensuring people have access to the resources and to break the barriers on condom use”.

In his contribution, the Director General of National Aids Secretariat, Abdul Rahman Sesay, said condom use is a critical health element in the country.

He emphasized that there are lots of barriers to condom use, stressing that there is need to break these barriers.

He said their aim is to improve access to condoms supply in addition to partnering with the private sector to ensuring a realization of their goal.

Mr. Sesay emphasized the need to promote social marketing and distribution and called on the public and private sectors to make their products very accessible.

He observed that some people are not using condoms in sex, noting that they need to break that barrier.

For his part, the UNAIDS country director, Isaac Ahemesah, maintained that condom use protect people from getting HIV, STI and unplanned pregnancy.

He disclosed that new HIV infection in the country has actually declined as they now put people on life-saving drugs.