Policy implications for condom use in Asia: A systematic review

In regard to condom use, the uniqueness of Asian culture plays a significant role on people’s attitudes and behaviours. To date, there exists no existing review on the studies investigating what are the barriers of condom use among the public of reproductive age in Asian countries. The purpose of this paper is to systematically examine the barriers of condom use in major Asian countries to guide policy development. Following PRISMA guideline, 300 articles were identified and analysed and a total of four main themes and two sub-themes emerged, namely: successful policies, policies overlooking minority groups, problematic policy implementation, lack of policies, poor governance, and poor marketing strategy. Findings from this systematic review provide insights into the future policy formation and intervention design to promote higher condom use in Asia, as such, the importance of collaborating with companies to increased access to condom consumption, creating family planning policies for the general population, and training the program management to correctly implement the policy.