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Testimonial

We can fund three years of supply

Rino Meyers from  I+Solutions

I+Solutions, as described by Rino Meyers is: “A non-governmental organization working on all levels of the pharmaceutical supply chain from market research, production over supply chain issues to dispensing product at health centre level. The mission of the organization is to promote access to treatment and care, and this is achieved by improving the availability and the accessibility of drugs and other medical commodities.  I+Solutions is based in the Netherlands with subsidiaries in US, SA, Sudan and Madagascar, and has been around for five years;”

I+Solutions is a member of the consortium of Dutch organizations leading the Universal Female Campaign. Mr. Meyers, explains the specific role that I+Solutions has within the consortium:

“For this project I+solutions specializes in three areas. The first is procurement, the second is research and development and the third area is supporting the pilot country program in Cameroon. For the Cameroun pilot program,  I+solutions is supervising the implementation of the Cameroun program and partners.  Currently, the Cameroon program  is the process of finalizing their marketing plan and prepares the introduction of the two  female condoms they are going to put on the market  in June
The local partner ACMS, the national social marketing organisation is in charge of the implementation and works with a number of partners on the social mobilisation and women’s rights. Additionally, I+solutions is working on the quality control of the female condoms once they arrive in the country. UAFC  is supporting the quality control laboratory, LANACOME, and is working to upgrade their system and capacity so the laboratory can begin testing female condoms. Once the laboratory has been updated it will be the first female condom testing laboratory operational in  Africa. It will test the quality of the female condoms for the Cameroon program but also for other countries in the region.”
 Another  area of support is the supply of female condoms starting with the quantification over supply planning, negotiations with suppliers and support to and monitoring of the supply chain of the female condoms to and in the country.

The Cameroon Program, that I+Solutions is supporting, has already achieved things despite the fact that the program  has only started this year and supplies will start arriving in may.  As Mr. Meyers, describes:

“The Cameroon country program and budget have been approved, the preparation  activities have started. The program has received a large support and adhesion from the Cameroun’s government, reproductive health and aids prevention partners and community based organisations and NGO’s. 
ACMS has already for years had more demand then supplies and has been awaiting for this UAFC opportunity, funding and support to be able to increase their campaigns and target the whole population and in particular women.
The reference documents for training and promotion are almost finalised and  the scaling up distribution of the female condoms is now scheduled to begin in June of this year. There are now  sufficient funding for the supply of condoms for the next three years and for the demand creation, sensitization and promotion activities.”

Knowledge Base

Countries in this article

Cameroon

UAFC lobby paper

UAFC has developed a profound advocacy strategy in order to achieve acces to female condoms for all. For background on this strategy and to strengthen your own lobby activities you have access to this paper.

download the document

Breaking down the barriers!

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Ilze Smit of UAFC Joint Programme presented the session Female Condom Programming and Advocacy: Braking down the Barriers! at the NGO Forum ICPD+15.

read her weblog

see the photo's of the Forum

Trainings in Rwanda

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"In our daily work in HIV prevention and even in our sexual and reproductive life sessions with potential users, in trainings and advocay, we talk about female condoms as you can see in these photos. I'm pushing to include FC in our major advocay themes. It recently has been included in the Rwanda National NGO forum on AIDS for the four year strategic plan (2009/2012)," says Fortunée Twiyubahe from ACORD/Oxfam International in Rwanda.

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Knowledge base live

Part of our new website is the revolutionary knowledge base. This is a repository of concepts related to the main theme of UAFC, the female condom. This repository is organized according to themes, geographic location and time. We invite you to start exploring our knowledge base.

If you feel you have anything to contribute don't hesitate to contact us.

ACMS Website

In Cameroon the Association Camerounaise pour le Marketing (ACMS) works on making Female Condoms available to a large usersgroup. ACMS has its own website, with which it reaches especially young people.

Interview with Victoria Archibong, SFH

"I believe the introduction of the male condoms was relatively easier. This could be because it was easier to target men as the “dominant” party in relationships and the ones who will wear the condoms. There was also a lot of support from donors and IPs. The female condom is regarded more as a “woman thing”. Some men may feel threatened as the female condom will empower women in demonstrating their sexual and reproductive health rights. For Female condom programming, programmers have to be more creative and strategic."

read the interview

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