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After nearly 28 years, The Communication Initiative (The CI) Global is entering a new chapter. Following a period of transition, the global website has been transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where it will be administered by the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Division. Wits' commitment to social change and justice makes it a trusted steward for The CI's legacy and future.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at cila.comminitcila.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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100% Condom Use

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Summary

100% Condom Use



The World Health Organisation (WHO)'s "100% condom use" model seeks to ensure that condoms are used in every sexual encounter between a sex worker and a client in China, Myanmar, Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos, and the Philippines. In these countries, condom usage is low and prevalence of sexually transmitted infections is high, WHO officials say. For example, 20% of sex workers in China have never used a condom. In Vietnam, nearly a quarter of sex workers in Ho Chi Minh city are infected with HIV/AIDS.


Commercial sex has increased the incidence of HIV/AIDS in the Asia-Pacific region, where 7 million are afflicted. This region "is set to become the epicentre of the global pandemic in the next decade," according to the WHO. The 100% condom use model reflects health officials' fears that the wider population will begin to be infected at increasing rates (at least 30 million people are expected to be infected with HIV/AIDS in China and India by 2010).


The model is based on a policy that requires:

  • collaboration between local government, law enforcement, and health services;
  • education for sex workers and clients;
  • a readily accessible supply of condoms that meet international manufacturing standards; and
  • sanctions for non-compliant establishments.

The programme has been successful in Thailand and Cambodia; new infections have dropped by more than 80% since the peak of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the last decade. Cambodia and Thailand are the only 2 Asian countries where HIV/AIDS cases are declining, largely because of widespread condom usage - more than 90% - in commercial sex establishments. Only 16% of cases in Thailand and 21% of cases in Cambodia developed from the sex industry compared with 80 to 90% during the peak of the epidemic. Now, most new infections are contracted through marital and casual sex, where condom use is low.


But the WHO policy has been criticised by some non-governmental groups, which argue that the UN agency is effectively condoning prostitution by encouraging condom use among sex workers. Some governments in the region, including in the Philippines (where the Church strongly campaigns against artificial contraceptives), are conscious of the challenge the model poses to religious and cultural taboos. WHO officials acknowledge that they initially faced difficulties in getting the message across to governments but that authorities in the region are now far more open due to the urgency of the issue.


Source

Push Journal, Daily News Feed, 18/08/2003 ("AIDS battle reaches new climax in Asia with aggressive condom policy", Agence France-Presse, August 15 2003); and Condom Promotion page on WHO site.