Paying for Condoms and Contraceptives

As shown in Figure 7, annual support from USAID, the largest donor of condoms, averaged US $23.4 million annually over the ten-year period 1998 to 2007. The US is also currently the largest donor of female condoms, peaking at US $9.4 million in 2007, as shown in Figure 8. USAID has two funding streams for condoms—HIV/AIDS funding and population assistance. Population funds can be used to procure other contraceptives, while HIV/AIDS funds cannot. The trend has been for fewer condoms to be procured using population funds—in 2000 65 percent of US funding for condoms came from population assistance, but by 2007 this percentage declined to only one percent.³⁵¹ While USAID remains the largest donor of contraceptives and condoms, assistance for family planning and reproductive health overall has fallen dramatically compared to HIV/AIDS funding, as detailed in Box 14.

Box 14: U.S. HIV/AIDS and Family Planning/Reproductive Health Assistance: A Growing Disparity Within the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Focus Countries

The President’s 2008 funding request for HIV programs in the 15 PEPFAR focus countries increased 225 percent beyond the 2006 allocated level. Meanwhile, the funding request for family planning and reproductive health fell by 11 percent. As shown in Figure 9, the sheer scale of HIV funding in the focus countries ($3.6 billion requested for 2008), dwarfs FP/RH funding ($67.5 million requested for 2008, less than two percent the amount requested for HIV programming), despite the fact that nearly all focus countries have high unmet need for family planning—as high as 40.6 percent in Uganda. To enhance PEPFAR’s success and ensure its sustainability, greater recognition and financial support must be paid to international family planning and the critical issue of preventing unintended pregnancies.

Figure 9: U.S. FP/RH and HIV Funding for Focus Countries, Allocated 2003-2006, Requested 2007-2008 Source: Population Action International (PAI). 2008. U.S. HIV/AIDS and Family Planning/Reproductive Health Assistance: A Growing Disparity Within PEPFAR Focus Countries. Washington, DC: PAI.

Support from UNFPA, the second largest donor of condoms, averaged US $12.6 million annually over the ten year period 1998 to 2007. While USAID surpassed UNFPA as the largest donor of female condoms in 2006 and 2007, over the seven year period 2001 to 2007, UNFPA has provided the most support for female condoms, totaling US $12 million. Since 1999, UNFPA has been responsible for procuring condoms for all UN agencies including the WHO. UNFPA funding also includes procurements on behalf of other donors, including the European Union, the Dutch Government and CIDA (the Canadian Government). Because UNAIDS is a joint program and does not run programs on the ground, UNFPA is the lead agency within the United Nations for HIV/AIDS prevention activities and is responsible for all condom promotion and distribution for HIV/AIDS as well as family planning.³⁵²

BMZ/KfW (the German Government) and DFID (the United Kingdom) have also become major sources of male condoms, beginning in 1992.³⁵³ Over the ten-year period 1998 to 2007, BMZ/KfW and DFID provided an annual average of US $6.9 million and US $6.6 million, respectively. IPPF has also been a consistent donor of male condoms, giving a yearly average of US $0.5 million over the ten-year period 1998 to 2007. The social marketing organization Population Services International (PSI) is also a significant provider of condoms, but PSI is not a traditional donor in the sense that the majority of its funding originates from bilateral support. Where possible, UNFPA accounting attributes contributions from social marketing organizations such as PSI, DKT and MSI to the original bilateral donor.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), is a funding mechanism intended to function apart from existing bilateral and multilateral donor funding. Since its establishment in 2001, the Global Fund has already become a significant contributor to condom procurement, as shown in Figure 10, financing about 10 percent of all donated male condoms and 14 percent of donated female condoms for 2005 and 2006.³⁵⁴ In 2007, US $0.6 million in Global Fund money was spent on male condoms.³⁵⁵

Fig 10 Source: USAID/DELIVER PROJECT. 2008. “Global Fund Financing of Condoms and Contraceptive Security.” Policy Brief. Washington DC: USAID/DELIVER PROJECT.

Please see the Appendix for this section's end notes.