Lubricant helps prevent HIV infection, but access at SA… & More Trending News

At the Ivan Toms Centre for Men’s Health, close to the Somerset Hospital in Green Point, Cape Town, free water-based lubricant is obtainable in 5ml foil sachets. 

Inside the centre’s ready room, the lubricant is stored in a big plastic bowl alongside free condoms. Speaking from behind a masks, a receptionist motions to take as many sachets as required. 

Each sachet is branded with the phrase “Max”, the stamp of South Africa’s Department of Health, the phrases “not for sale” and an expiry date.

Opened in 2009 as a partnership between the Western Cape well being division and non-government organisation Anova Health, the Ivan Toms Centre was the primary state clinic to deal with MSM (males who’ve intercourse with males) in Africa, providing free healthcare to this typically stigmatised group.

The Department of Health has mandated that lubricant must be freely out there alongside condoms at clinics across the nation. 

But a report by community-led monitoring group Ritshidze, launched earlier this yr, discovered that of 131 clinics which declare to supply MSM well being companies, 43 didn’t have lubricant out there. The report discovered that solely 26% of MSM respondents managed to access free lubricant at their native well being facility.

“Lubricants are not easily accessed in South African clinics,” says Luckyboy Mkhondwane of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). 

“Mostly, people can get them if there is a project working with MSM in that clinic, for example, Anova Health or Engage Health. Other than that, people buy their own lubricant or end up using oil-based substances.”

Why is lubricant essential?

The use of lubricant reduces the danger of HIV transmission when males have intercourse with males. The World Health Organisation states that water or silicone-based lubricants are central to appropriate condom use throughout anal intercourse.

“Lubricant is a liquid or a gel that prevents excessive friction during sexual intercourse,” explains Mkhondwane, who has lived brazenly with HIV since being identified in June 2002. An impassioned therapy activist, Mkhondwane joined the TAC in July 2002. 

“Friction can cause condom breakage, which can increase the risk of HIV infection,” he explains. 

There are three sorts of sexual lubricant generally out there: water-based, silicone-based and oil-based. 

Simon Collins of UK-based therapy activist group HIV I-base, stresses the significance of not utilizing oil-based lubricants with condoms. 

“If you are using condoms, you need to use a water-based or silicone-based lubricant,” says Collins. “Oil-based lubricants are positively out as a result of they break down the rubber or latex. 

“Oil-based lubricants weaken condoms so HIV can pass through. An oil-covered condom could split during sex, which the user may only realise after the event.”

Mkhondwane provides that silicone-based lubricants are pricier than the water-based ones. At Clicks, for example, the most affordable model of water-based lubricant is R62, whereas the most affordable Silicone-based lubricant is R126.

“Water-based lubes are all-purpose and can be used with condoms and sex toys,” he says. 

“The formulation makes them good for delicate pores and skin and stopping irritation. The water-based components additionally makes it a lot simpler to clean off your pores and skin and off any cloth it could get on. This additionally signifies that it gained’t go away stains. The draw back to water-based lube is that it tends to get sticky, and it could require extra frequent reapplication.

“Silicone-based lubes are slippery and longer lasting than water-based lubes. Unlike oil-based lubes, silicone is secure to make use of with latex. You additionally don’t want to make use of as a lot silicone lube to get the identical impact, and silicone lubes require much less reapplication. 

“But these lubricants are also much more difficult to wash off, and most formulations can easily leave stains [on] sheets. And they can’t be used with sex toys, as sex toys are usually made out of silicone.”

In its National Condom Training Curriculum, the Health Department stipulates: “Do not use oil-based lubricants, such as Vaseline, baby oil, or cooking oil as it can damage the integrity of the condom.” 

The doc additional states: “NDoH [the National Department of Health] currently procures condom-compatible water-based lubricant sachets of 5ml, for distribution with the condoms.” 

Access points

Responding to Spotlight, well being division spokesperson Foster Mohale reiterates that “all clinics should have lubricant”. He says the division goals to distribute 20 million lubricant sachets a yr at provincial major and secondary distribution websites. 

Asked why lubricant just isn’t out there at many of those websites, he says, “Each province has a target based on population. The lack thereof could be forecasting and management challenges… Provinces need to forecast better and procure on time.”

However, Mkhondwane says, “My tackle that is that the ability managers don’t think about lubricants to be a precedence. If they had been thought-about as such, they might be ordered along with different prevention commodities like condoms. 

“It actually doesn’t make sense that folks can access condoms as HIV prevention instruments but not lubricants, which really must be a part of the bundle. Forecasting and procurement must be finished in keeping with the variety of condoms that every facility distributes at a given time. 

“The facility managers play the bigger role, but if procurement is not done, district, provincial and national health [health] should be enquiring on this and coming up with a possible remedy.” DM/MC

Note: A consultant of the TAC is quoted on this article. Spotlight is printed by Section27 and the TAC, but is editorially unbiased — an independence that the editors guard jealously. Spotlight is a member of the South African Press Council.

This article was printed by Spotlight – well being journalism within the public curiosity.

 

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