HSE to spend €750,000 on branded condoms and lubricant for sexual health programme

The health service is currently seeking tenders for the supply and distribution of around 1.4 million condoms and 890,000 lubrication sachets. File picture

The HSE is set to spend around €750,000 on branded condoms and sachets of lubricant as part of its bid to reduce unplanned pregnancies and negative sexual health outcomes.

The health service is currently seeking tenders for the supply and distribution of around 1.4 million condoms and 890,000 lubrication sachets each year for the next three years, with the possibility of two 12-month extensions.

The products will feature the HSE logo and the address of a website providing sexual health information for “gay and bisexual men [and] other men who have sex with men and the trans community”.

They also promote the website, sexualhealth.ie, but this is currently “unavailable” and redirects to a page advising visitors that “we are working to make information available on hse.ie”.

Tender documents estimate the value of the contract for the distribution of branded condoms and lubricant under the HSE Sexual Health Programme at €750,000.

This programme established the National Condom Distribution Service in 2015, which has since distributed more than 7.4 million condoms and 4.2 million lubricant sachets, according to the documents.

“The [service] functions as a central point for distributing free condoms and lubricant sachets to HSE services and other organisations directly working with individuals and groups who may be at increased risk of negative sexual health outcomes and unplanned pregnancy,” the documents state.

Under the contract, the successful service provider will deliver around 1,390,000 HSE-branded condom packets, “including a regular condom in each”, to a storage facility in Waterford.

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They will also deliver around 890,000 water-based, scent- and paraben-free 5ml lubrication sachets to the same HSE facility. The contract will be for a period of three years with two possible 12-month extensions.

“The Sexual Health Programme is a policy priority programme in Health and Wellbeing, HSE Public Health, and it is responsible for implementing the National Sexual Health Strategy 2025-2035,” the HSE states.

The closing date for tenders is May 5, and service providers must be able to deliver the products within five months of orders being placed. The products must also have a shelf life of at least 36 months from the date of delivery.