Population-based evidence and critical analysis of social determinants in the use of condom in Colombia

Objectives: to determine the extent of the use of condom by the Colombian general population and to analyze the findings from a critical approach to the social determinants of health. Methods: a cross-sectional study using data from the National Health Survey of 2007 was conducted. The sample was made up of 29 760 records of people aged 18 to 69 years from the main regions of Colombia. Results: in spite of the fact that 75 to 94 % of the surveyed people had heard about the condom, less than 22.2 % of them used it and the females showed the lowest indexes. Those persons with low schooling, no education at all, included in the subsidy system for the poor, and the displaced people were the ones who used the condom less in their first and their most recent sexual intercourses. Additionally, it was found that 13 (6.5 %) out of 209 people in a subsample used condom as a preventive action when they suffered some sexually transmitted infection. Conclusions: the use of condom by the Colombian population is low; there are structural-type social determinants related to this event like access to education and health services as well as gender-dependent cultural patterns of vulnerability. Promotion of condom nationwide should be supported by health authority decisions led by the Ministry of Public Health, with the participation of other sectors involved in the quality of life of the Colombian citizens.