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Abstract
Prior to the 1980s, family planning programs in Ghana mainly focused on fertility reduction through the use of contraceptives in general. Since the emergence of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, family planning programmes have only emphasized condom use, for the dual purpose of HIV prevention and fertility reduction. There are speculations that such campaigns will not only increase the use of contraceptives in general but increasingly lead to a shift from the use of hormonal methods to the condom. For such speculations to be realized, the two purposes of using condoms must be compatible. Unfortunately, this issue has not been fully explored. Using data collected on a sample of 110 respondents, this article analyses the compatibility between condom use for fertility reduction and HIV prevention with special reference to the people of Krobo Odumase, in Ghana. The study reveals that there are sometimes conflicts between fertility motives and condom use for HIV prevention. Age, gender and marital status are strong variables that shape such fertility motives, which in turn influence the propensity to use condoms. The study also shows that certain gendered cultural practices, such as yosedofiermi, disempower women in negotiating for condom use.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank Stig Jørgensen, Asbjorn Aase and Samuel Agyei-Mensah for helpful comments during the preparation of this article. I also appreciate the comments of the two anonymous reviewers of the article.