Africa Asia Middle East عربي Français free subscription IRIN Site Map RSS find PlusNews on facebook follow PlusNews on twitter
PlusNews
Global HIV/AIDS news and analysis
Advanced search
 Sunday 19 December 2010
 
Home 
Africa 
Blog 
Weekly reports 
In-Depth reports 
Country profiles 
Fact files 
Events 
Most read 
 
Print report Share |
ETHIOPIA: Condom creations grace the catwalk


Photo: DKT
Ten thousand male and female condoms were used in the fashion shows
ADDIS ABABA, 9 February 2010 (PlusNews) - The whims of fashion collided with some of life's harsher realities when, during a recent fashion show in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, condoms were the fabric of choice on the catwalk.

At the Condom Clothes Fashion Show - held in January and organized by social marketing group DKT with the Zalef Fine Art and Fashion Design Institute - 10 spectacular dresses made exclusively from 10,000 male and female condoms of all colours, shapes and sizes were on show.

"In Ethiopia, condoms have a bad image; people are afraid when they want to buy condoms at the supermarket - they even try to hide the condoms quickly after they have bought them," Emebet Alemu, designer of the dresses and organizer of the shows, told IRIN/PlusNews. "We wanted to change that by using an art event; [maybe] the show will open people’s minds a little ... maybe it will make them [condoms] seem more normal for people."

The latex garments were later modelled at a show - held under the theme, "Abstain, Be faithful and use Condoms" - at the Hilton Hotel in Ethiopia's capital; there is also a plan for the event to be taken to Adama, a major regional city.

The fashion initiative is the latest move by DKT to try to break the stigma associated with condom use in Ethiopia; in 2009, it set up a condom café in Addis, and ran a two-month campaign to distribute condoms and kerosene to house helps in the capital.

Condom stigma

Despite such campaigns, however, condoms remain highly stigmatized in Ethiopia; a 2008 study published in the Ethiopian Journal of Health Development and conducted in Adwa town, about 1,000km north of Addis Ababa, found that 46 percent of respondents believed that people who used condoms were promiscuous.

More on condoms:
 Maids, condoms and kerosene
 Cappuccino with condom
 Increased condom use among sex workers, but more education needed
"Instead of teaching one-to-one relationships, they promote condoms," Gelila Ejigu, 24, said of the condom fashion shows. "When people see it they will think they should have the type of relationships where they must use a condom."

However, Emebet Abu, DKT Ethiopia's head of communications, explained that the condom fashion campaign was tailored to the youth, with a view to highlighting condoms as an additional option and not a replacement for abstinence or fidelity as methods of HIV prevention.

"The idea of the show was to target young people, who like fashion and design," she said. "We also teach abstinence and to be faithful, but some young people will not abstain or be faithful; they may have more than one partner already so they must use condoms."

wd/kr/mw


Theme(s): (PLUSNEWS) Arts/Culture - PlusNews, (PLUSNEWS) Education, (PLUSNEWS) HIV/AIDS (PlusNews), (PLUSNEWS) Prevention - PlusNews, (PLUSNEWS) Stigma/Human Rights/Law - PlusNews

[ENDS]

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
Print report Share |
Countries
FREE Subscriptions
Your e-mail address:


Submit your request
Socialize
 More on Ethiopia
06/Dec/2010
ETHIOPIA: HIV risk in a booming construction industry
24/Nov/2010
HIV/AIDS: MSM groups hail pill to prevent HIV
14/Oct/2010
HIV/AIDS: Global Fund looks to private sector to fill funding gap
14/Oct/2010
HEALTH: New global plan aims to wipe out TB
08/Oct/2010
HIV/AIDS: IRIN/PlusNews Weekly Issue 506, 8 October 2010
 More on Arts/Culture - PlusNews
08/Dec/2010
AFRICA: Getting men talking about condoms
23/Nov/2010
UGANDA: Ssenga Bernadette Nabatanzi, "We used to put premature babies in underground holes"
18/Aug/2010
TANZANIA: Women caught in crossfire of HIV battle
02/Jul/2010
KENYA: Muslim leaders champion HIV testing in marriage
01/Jul/2010
KENYA: Targeting men for HIV testing at World Cup games
 Most Read 
SRI LANKA: Princey Mangalika: "My neighbours burned my house because they thought I had HIV"
SOUTH AFRICA: Nurses step into ART breach
SOUTH AFRICA: Sihle Motha, "You have this person's life in your hands"
HIV/AIDS: IRIN/PlusNews weekly news and analysis round-up Issue 516 for 17 December 2010
Back | Home page

Services:  Africa | Asia | Middle East | Film & TV | Photo | Radio | Live news map | E-mail subscription
Feedback · IRIN Terms & Conditions · Really Simple Syndication News Feeds · About PlusNews · Jobs · Donors

Copyright © IRIN 2010
This material comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States. Republication is subject to terms and conditions as set out in the IRIN copyright page.