The INFO Project Blog

Umniah, one of Jordan’s largest mobile phone companies, has signed a Letter of Agreement with the Jordan Health Communication Partnership (JHCP) to support and spread the messages national family planning campaign (Hayati Ahla”- My Life is More Beautiful). Umniah will send health awareness SMS messages to all Umniah subscribers (addressing a number of health issues, includin reproductive and sexual health), free of cost, which will reach a total of 300,000 people. Umniah will also be distributing JHCP health education materials at point of sales and include birth spacing and small family size related messages on their pre-paid cards, reaching over 1.3 million subscribers.

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In light of INFO Project’s online discussion forum on female condom programming in low-resource settings, we thought it appropriate to highlight a recent Lancet Global Health Network’s article featuring a report on U.S. foreign policy’s role on the acquisition and promotion of female condoms in the prevention of HIV/AIDS. The Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) recently released this report presenting an overview of the female condom, its role in the prevention of HIV, the challenges faced in making the contraceptive accessible, and a thorough explanation of U.S. and global policies that affect the use and promotion of the female condom.

The report summarizes a number of peer-reviewed articles and also features opinions from female condom experts and organizations. The article concludes with a number of evidence-based recommendations for U.S. and U.S. agencies’ support in the procurement, distribution and advocacy of female condoms and removal of existing barriers hindering women’s access to these potentially life-saving contraceptives.

We were interested to see news regarding a recent restriction of advocacy and promotion of condoms and other forms of modern contraception in the state of Anambra, Nigeria. The state commissioner for health explains “The use of condoms has greatly encouraged immorality” and sexual education for children should emphasize abstinence.

Read about the changes, the controversy and the reasons for this restriction on UN’s humanitarian news and analysis site, IRIN.