AEGiS-14IAC: Gender differences in the perceptions of realityÃ‚Â® Female Condom in Cameroon.

14th International AIDS Conference

Barcelona, Spain - July 7-12, 2002

Gender differences in the perceptions of reality é « Female Condom in Cameroon.

Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no. MoOrE1115)

Kemmegne J, Nguemen F
University of Yaounde 1/Cameroon Psychology Forum, Yaounde, Cameroon

Backgroung : The study examined men versus women attitudes towards the female condom (FC).

METHODS: Volunteers (Male & Female) were recruited from among sexually active subjects, living in Yaounde, Cameroon. They were each given 6FCs for use with the partner(s). One month later, they were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Those who indicated their intention to use in the future were given 6 more FCs and were followed up one month later. The fieldwork lasted for four months (Dec. 1998 to March 1999). Simple cross tabulation was used to analyse data according to gender.

RESULTS: None of the volunteers sampled had used the FC in the past. The average number of FC used during the survey was 6.2±3.0 (Female) vs 5.4±2.1 (Male). Other results are presented in the table below. [table: see text]

CONCLUSIONS: Women have a more positive attitude towards the FC than men. Nevertheless, they are economically dependent on their male counterparts in Africa. Further, decision on issues concerning sexuality rests on men. Programmers of FC must design strategies to reach out more especially to the men.

Keywords: AEGIS, Condoms, Female, Sex Behavior, Sex Characteristics, Perception, Cameroon, Interviews, Questionnaires, Attitude, Interpersonal Relations, Africa, Human, Male, Female

020707
MoOrE1115