Table 3.34 summarises proportions of respondents who had sex in the last year who used a condom during their last sexual intercourse. Some 38% of females and males used a condom during the last sexual intercourse. The large majority of respondents who were young Africans with multiple partners, and living in rural informal locality types, were more likely to use a condom in the past 12 months. There were lower levels of condom use among those aged over 50 years (8.6% for men and 5.3% for women), white men (15.2%) and Indian women (12.6%).

Table 3.34: Condom use during the last sexual intercourse among respondents aged 15 years and older by background characteristics, South Africa 2005

Table 3.35 shows the reasons mentioned by respondents for condom use during their last sexual encounter. The overwhelming majority of respondents (71.2%) used a condom to prevent HIV infection. Almost half (49.4%) responded that a condom was used as a contraceptive method.

Last sex condom use for different age groups according to marital and partner status Table 3.36 shows reported condom use for different age groups according to marital status and partner status. The table shows that respondents who were single were considerably more likely to use a condom than those who were married. Respondents younger than 50 years old and who had three or more partners in the past year were more likely to use a condom at last sex than those who either had only one or two sexual partners.

Similarly, both youth and adults who had more than one current partner were more likely to use a condom during the last sexual encounter than respondents with only one current partner. It is interesting to note that condom use was also relatively high among youth and adults aged 25–49 years who had one current partner only, 25–49 year-old widowed respondents and both youth and 25–49 year olds who are divorced or separated.

Main source of condoms is the Department of Health’s public sector condom programme. Condom distribution has increased from 267 million in 2001 to 346 million in 2004. The table below illustrates condom brands most recently used, and shows that the majority of respondents used either a public sector condom, or a social marketing brand.

The figure below illustrates that government clinics and hospitals are the most likely source of condoms for both sexes and all age groups.