THE Prestige site in Pretoria has been awarded the Project Promote floating trophy for 2008, after distributing over 150 000 condoms a month over the past year.

Team effort, commitment and support of Project Promote as a whole are also recognised by the award.

Brad Mears, the CEO of SABCOHA, handed out the awards. "The project is going excellently and Pretoria's Prestige site has shown great commitment to the whole project."

The Pretoria site attained its highest monthly distribution in November 2007, when it reported a monthly distribution of 1 014 000 condoms. This is the highest monthly distribution recorded by a single site since the launch of the project in 2006.

"This site continues to distribute consistently on a monthly basis and reports are timeous and accurate," says Andrea Smith of Genlem Projects, the project co-ordinator. "The site also tries to find new places to distribute condoms. Prestige's site in Pretoria has distributed 2 322 000 condoms to date, 14 percent of the total project distribution and has a reporting history of 100 percent."

History

Condoms are small, look unsophisticated and can be accessed free of charge, but they have the power to affect lives drastically. Used correctly and consistently, condoms are highly effective in preventing HIV transmission.

In a major move to prevent new HIV infections, SABCOHA; the national Department of Health; Prestige and Fidelity Supercare, two of the country's biggest contract cleaning companies; hygiene products supplier, Steiner Group, sister company of Prestige; and BidAir, a subsidiary of BidVest that services airports, have partnered to form Project Promote.

It was launched in May 2006 to address the important issue of the re-supply of condom dispensers at non-traditional sites like taverns, airports, tertiary education institutions and shopping centres.

The project, which is part of the Department of Health's National Condom Distribution Programme, has 39 primary sites countrywide that distribute about 700 000 Choice condoms each month. More than three million condoms have been dispensed since the project began distributing condoms in July 2006.

"The benefit of partnering with cleaning companies is that a logistical infrastructure already exists," explains Smith. "Most of the condoms supplied by Project Promote are placed in toilets as [they] provide privacy. As cleaning company staff clean bathrooms, this makes it easy for them to refill condom dispensers."

The project leader, Genieve Frick, adds that in the last year the project has expanded to include the training of cleaners in basic HIV/AIDS information. Already over 3 500 cleaners have been reached.

While SABCOHA provides the overall project management and liaison mechanism for the project, the Department of Health, in collaboration with the relevant provincial health departments, supplies condoms to identified distribution sites and into Prestige and Fidelity Supercare's warehousing systems.

The department also trains supervisors in the industry to manage the logistics and supply and demand. Prestige and Fidelity Supercare provide the necessary internal resources and infrastructure to re-supply condom dispensers for free to their clients.

"This is a five-year project and we're only in year one of the funding cycle, so not all components of the strategy have been achieved yet," says Frick. "But we're on track to meet all our targets set for 2007/2008, if not exceed them. The momentum of Project Promote is growing at a rapid pace and we're hoping to double our distribution and reach another 3 800 cleaners next year."

Accessing condoms lists as one of the most embarrassing, uncomfortable activities for most people. Through Project Promote, thousands of people around South Africa are assured of accessing condoms not only privately, but also broadly, easily and consistently.

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