Community in Action: Mujer distributes condoms and lubes in Zamboanga City

written by Brixson Julian

From August 11-15, Mujer-LGBT Organization, Inc. launched ‘RONDA MUJERES’, an awareness and distribution drive on condoms and lubricants in Zamboanga City. With the hopes of making a Safer Now Zamboanga City, RONDA MUJERES was conducted in line with the celebration of the NHPM 2020.

“Amidst the ongoing pandemic, we believe that it’s still imperative to be active in promoting condom programs, especially within the context of HIV, sexual, and reproductive health and rights responses,” shared Alvin Fernandez, Executive Director of Mujer-LGBT Organization Inc.

Through this community-wide mobilization effort, Mujer aims to increase awareness on the benefits and effectiveness of condoms and normalize condom use especially in local communities. It is also through these kind of activities that organization ensures easy access among community members to HIV preventive commodities.

The awareness and distribution drive was conducted in a week from 8 AM to 5 PM. Mujer volunteers went to different barangays to do rounds - hence the name RONDA MUJERES.

According to Fernandez, they selected three barangays that have few to no cases of COVID-19 as a precautionary measure. They set booths in each of these selected barangay and did house-to-house condom distribution with help from the Department of Health, the City Health Office, the local government unit of Zamboanga City, as well as, with the barangays officials.

COVID-19 precautionary measures, including wearing of face mask and shields, physical distancing, and temperature check were observed in the conduct of the activity.

Efforts like this prove how dedicated Mujer is in promoting healthy sex lifestyle among people in Zamboanga City. Just in time for the NHPM 2020, Mujer was able spread awareness about HIV prevention and reach out to more key populations that they serve.