Definition
Condom use rate of the contraceptive prevalence rate is the number of women ages 15–49 in marital or consensual unions who are practising contraception by using condoms as a proportion of all of women of the same age group in consensual unions who are practising, or whose sexual partners are practising, any form of contraception.
Goal/target addressed
Goal 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
Target 7. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Rationale
The condom use rate is used to monitor progress towards halting and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, because condoms are the only contraceptive method effective in reducing the spread of HIV. Because the condom use rate is measured only among women in unions, this indicator needs to be supplemented by an indicator on condom use in high-risk situations (see indicator 19a).
Method of computation
The number of women ages 15–49 in marital or consensual unions who report that they are using a condom to avoid pregnancy (regardless of whether they are also using additional methods) is divided by the total number of women ages 15–49 in unions who are practicing, or whose sexual partners are practising, contraception.
This indicator is not equivalent to condom use prevalence, which is the number of women ages 15–49 in marital or consensual unions who are practising (or whose sexual partners are practising) contraception by using condoms as a percentage of the total number of women of the same age group (and same marital status, if applicable) in the survey. Irrespective of the contraceptive prevalence rate, if 10 percent of those practising contraception use condoms, then the rate for indicator 19 is 10 percent.
Data collection and source
Contraceptive prevalence data are obtained mainly from household surveys, notably the Demographic and Health Surveys, Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys and contraceptive prevalence surveys. For condom use data, married women are asked whether they have ever heard of condoms and then whether they are currently using condoms to prevent pregnancy.
References
The State of the World’s Children, annual, United Nations Children’s Fund (www.unicef.org/publications).
World Health Statistics, annual, World Health Organization (www3.who.int/whosis). [Can’t find this publication. Do you mean World Health Report? www.global-health.gov/worldhealthstatistics.shtml]
Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS, www.unaids.org/hivaidsinfo.
United Nations Population Division, www.un.org/esa/population/unpop.htm.
United Nation’s Children’s Fund, www.childinfo.org and www.unicef.org.
World Development Indicators, annual, World Bank (www.worldbank.org/data).
Demographic and Health Surveys, www.measuredhs.com.
Human Development Report, annual, United Nations Development Programme (www.undp.org).
Indicators of Sustainable Development: Guidelines and Methodologies, 2001, United Nations Division for Sustainable Development (www.un.org/esa/sustdev/natlinfo/indicators/isd.htm).
Gender, HIV and Human Rights: A Training Manual, 2000, United Nations Development Fund for Women (www.unifem.undp.org/resources/hivtraining).
Periodicity of measurement
Household surveys, such as Demographic and Health Surveys, Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys and contraceptive prevalence surveys, are generally conducted every three to five years.
Gender issues
Statistics on contraception prevalence rates are based primarily on women, mainly because contraception is more easily measured in this way. Further, contraception, or its lack, affects the health and well-being of women more than it does their sexual partners. Similarly, condom use is still at the discretion of male partners, and the female condom is not as widely available. The rising number of women and girls infected by HIV/AIDS indicates that condom use needs further promotion and that women need to be empowered to refuse unprotected sex.
Disaggregation issues
Condom use, as it is the case in general for contraceptive use, may vary significantly across socioeconomic groups and regional and geographical areas. It is important that the analysis address specific demographic groups, such as adolescents and unmarried women.
International data comparisons
The State of the World’s Children, annual, United Nations Children’s Fund (www.unicef.org/publications).
World Health Statistics, annual, World Health Organization (www3.who.int/whosis). [Can’t find this publication. Do you mean World Health Report? www.global-health.gov/worldhealthstatistics.shtml]
United Nation’s Children’s Fund, www.childinfo.org and www.unicef.org.
World Development Indicators, annual, World Bank (www.worldbank.org/data).
Human Development Report, annual, United Nations Development Programme (www.undp.org).
Comments and limitations
The indicator does not reflect condom use for the unmarried population and people in groups with high-risk behaviour. Data are generally collected for women in consensual unions and in a particular age range, while the population of concern includes all women of reproductive age, irrespective of marital status.
The spread of HIV through sexual relations depends on having unprotected sex with people who also have other partners. Most monogamous relationships are cohabiting, although the reverse is not necessarily true. Partners who do not live together and who have sex only occasionally are most likely to have other partners over the course of a year. These partnerships therefore carry a higher risk of HIV transmission than partnerships that do not link into a wider sexual network. AIDS prevention programmes try to discourage high numbers of partnerships and to encourage mutual monogamy.
This indicator, therefore, is not a practical indicator for measuring the prevention of HIV/AIDS. Information should be collected on additional indicators on condom use in high-risk situations (indicator 19a) and on knowledge and misconceptions of HIV/AIDS among 15- 24-year-olds (indicator 19b). Such indicators give a better picture of the proportion of the population that engages in relatively high-risk partnerships and that is therefore more likely to be exposed to the sexual networks within which HIV can circulate.
Agencies
Ministries of health.
Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS.
United Nations Children’s Fund.
United Nations Population Division.
World Health Organization.
United Nations Population Fund.