The lack of availability of lubricant is another challenge outlined in the latest edition of a Ritshidze State of Health report in Mpumalanga, launched today.
Lubricant can make sex safer by reducing the risk of vaginal or anal tears caused by dryness or friction, and can also prevent a condom tearing. Vaginal or anal tears provide HIV easier direct access into the body — and if a condom breaks it increases the risk of HIV, STIs, or pregnancy. Despite being a basic HIV prevention tool only 29% of clinics monitored in Mpumalanga had lubricant available.
“I do get condoms there, but no lubricants. I gave up asking for lubes and just buy them. When you ask, they will tell you it is unavailable,” one gay man told us. Another said: “I am a gay man and was denied lubricant at the clinic. The nurse asked why I always take lubricant and condoms from the facility, saying there are only a few left, and refused to allow me to take it”. A trans woman told us “I do get condoms there, but no lubricants. I gave up asking for lubes there and just buy them. When you ask, they will tell you it is unavailable”.
Only 23% (just 3 sites) that did provide lubricants put them in a private space. Most sites put them by the reception or in the waiting area, or in the consultation room where they must be requested. Not only can it be uncomfortable to take condoms and lubricant in front of people in the waiting area or the receptionist, so you opt not to, it can also be unsafe or lead to further harassment or abuse. One person who uses drugs told us: “They usually put the condoms and lubes by the window when you go inside the clinic, but most of the time the box is empty. I am too scared to ask the nurses or security guards”
For those who did ask for lubricants, too often staff were disrespectful. One sex worker recounted how “the Facility Manager threw me out like a dog… I told her that I didn’t have money to buy lubricant and pleaded with her, explaining that I was a sex worker. She told me she would not give me the lubricant because we apply it on our faces… I walked out embarrassed… I will never go back to that clinic”. Another person who uses drugs said “I don’t know about lubricants, but when we go to ask for condoms, we are refused. The staff asked why we need condoms and how we would use them, since we live on the streets. They also said maybe we need condoms because we want to rape people”.
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