Sexual behaviour with non paying partners
Half of the women (50.0%) said that they had not had a non-paying partner in the last seven days. Of those who reported a non-paying partner, the median reported frequency of sexual intercourse was 4 times in the last 30 days. More than one-third (37.1%) of the women who had a non-paying partner reported that they had been forced by a sexual partner to have sexual intercourse in the past 12 months.

Table 2.4: Characteristics of the non-paying partners of the study population

¹ Only those who reported a non-paying partner in the last 7 days are included

3. Condom use by the study population

Table 3 presents the level of condom use with clients and non-paying partners

Condom use with clients
Slightly more than half of the women (53.9%) claimed to have used a condom at the last sexual contact with a paying client. Of these, the majority reported that it was either they who suggested the condom use to the client (61.9%) or that it was a joint decision (20.8%). Of those who did not use a condom at the last sexual contact, the most frequent reasons mentioned were that the client objected (35.6%), that they themselves didn't like it (21.1%) or that they didn't think of it (20.8%). In only 11.6% of the cases a condom was not used because it was unavailable. When asked how regularly they used condoms with clients over the last 30 days, 24.8% said they used condoms every time or almost every time, 58.2% sometimes and 17% said they never used condoms. Condom use with clients was significantly higher in Chipata (61.8% at last contact) than in Livingstone (48.8%) and Chirundu (51.0%). Also in Chipata, a higher proportion of women said that it was the client who took the initiative to use a condom, and the reason given for not using a condom was more frequently because the woman didn't like it or didn't think of it.

Table 3.1 Condom use with clients

¹ Only those who used a condom are included
^2.Only those who did not use a condom are included

Condom use with non-paying partners
Less than half (44.0%) of the women said that they had used a condom at the last sexual contact with a non-paying partner. Again, most reported that this had happened either on their own initiative (55.4%) or by a joint decision (21.6%). The same reasons were mentioned for not using condoms: partner objected (33.5%), they themselves didn't like it (22.3%) or didn't think of it (16.0%). The majority reported using condoms with their non-paying partners during the past 12 months "only sometimes" (65.8%) or "never" (17.4%). Only 16.8% reported using condoms "every time" or "almost every time." Again, condom use was the highest in Chipata.

Table 3.2: Condom use with non-paying partners

^1. Only those who used a condom are included
^2.Only those who did not use a condom are included

4. Knowledge and availability of condoms

Table 4 presents the data on knowledge and availability of the male and female condom.

Male condoms
With the exception of seven women, all of the women (98.9%) had heard of male condoms. Most of these women also reported that they had used a male condom (88.7%). Those who reported never using male condoms were asked if they knew where to obtain them. Most of them did (78.7%). When this group was asked where to obtain condoms, they most frequently mentioned shops (71.5%), a clinic or hospital (64.5%), a bar, guesthouse or hotel (52.4%) and the market (46%). Pharmacies (25.3%), family planning clinics (12.9%), friends (9.6%) and peer educators (5.0%) were mentioned less frequently as a source for condoms. Most women (94.4%) reported that they could obtain condoms in less than one hour. Most (76.5%) of the women did not have any condoms on hand at the time of the interview. Women's responses regarding places for obtaining condoms varied slightly by site. In Chirundu, bars, guesthouses or hotels were more commonly mentioned, while in Chipata, health facilities were by far the most important source of condoms.

Table 4.1: Knowledge and availability of male condoms

^1.Those who never heard of a male condom are excluded
^2.Only those who reported never using a male condom were asked the question
^3.Those who had never heard of and who did not know where to obtain a condom are excluded

Female condom
The women knew less about the female condom, although 59.8% had heard of them. Of these, 19.0% had already used the female condom and 48.9% knew where to get them. When asked where to obtain female condoms, the women most often mentioned a clinic or hospital (65.6%) followed by shops (33.3%), pharmacies (29.0%) and bars, guesthouses or hotels (20.8%). The female condom was more widely known and used in Chirundu (22.7% of the women had used a female condom vs. 10.4% and 6.0% in Livingstone and Chipata respectively).

Table 4.2: Knowledge and availability of female condoms