Union health minister Dr. Ramdoss launches condom programme

[Guest guest]

Union health and family welfare minister dr. Anbumani ramdoss

launches dual protection condom programme

Union Health & Family Welfare Minister, Shri Anbumani Ramdoss called

for innovative methods to promote the use of condoms. Speaking at a

function organized for launching of the Dual Protection Condom

Programme, " Condom: Yahi Hai Sahi " at New Delhi today, he said that

public-private partnerships are essential in launching campaigns for

promotion of condoms. The programme which was sponsored by USAID and

ICICI is aimed at improving the image of condom as an important

product of family planning as well as for protection against

sexually transmitted diseases, particularly, HIV/AIDS.

Noting the decline in the use of condoms in the North India during

the last three years, the Minister Dr. Ramdoss said that there is an

urgent need to use all the available channels including the private

sector to promote the use of condoms. He has said though total

fertility rate (TFR) has come down slowly to 2.9 at present in the

country, we are still far away from the replacement level of 2.1 and

the promotion of condoms will play a great role in achieving this

target. He expressed happiness that Dual Protection Condom Programme

would lay emphasis on all the Empowered Action Group (EAG) namely,

Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh,

Jharkhand, Uttaranchal as well as on Delhi, Haryana and Punjab.

Earlier, speaking at the same function, Secretary, Department of

Family Welfare, Shri P.K. Hota said that there is a need to break

the barriers that have crept into the conventional channels of

condom distribution and think of innovative ways to promote their

use. He said that every year 20,000 new outlets would be added to

distribute condoms during the coming three years. Representative of

USAID Shri Walton North said that though India produces a large

number of high quality condoms, they face the problems of

perception, as they are associated in the minds of people with

commercial sex. He called for market based solutions and public-

private partnerships to solve India's health problems, as private

sector in India is a very vibrant one and is willing to shoulder

more responsibilities.

Additional Secretary and Project Director of National AIDS Control

Organization (NACO), Smt. Meenakshi Datta Ghosh said that there is a

need for a new operational framework for the design of public-

private partnerships to improve the delivery of health services. She

said one fourth of all pregnancies in the country are unwanted and

this makes it imperative to promote different methods of

contraception. She also said that aggressive promotion of

sterilization is leading to the neglect of temporary methods of

contraception like condoms though they have more significance not

only in controlling fertility but also afford protection against the

spread of HIV/AIDS.

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