Uganda faces condom shortage as demand soars

As the world commemorated the International Condom Day as well as Valentine’s Day last week, a top Ugandan ministry of health official said that the country is facing a condom shortage as the demand has increased. Zainab Akol, the AIDS Control Program Manager at the ministry of health said that the country requires about 3 billion condoms annually to cater for about 10 million people who are said to be in the active sex age bracket. Akol said the country has been importing about 120 million condoms annually in the last five years but the figure is away below the current demand. “We import about 120 million condoms a year but the consumption is high. A quick calculation is that every person has four condoms for a full year,” said Akol last week on Tuesday. “Recently, we received about 10 million condoms from UNFPA (UN Population Fund) and USAID (United States Agency for International Development) but still that is not enough,” she saidUganda on Tuesday joined the rest of the world to mark the Condom Day, which coincides with Valentine’s Day in the central Ugandan district of Masaka. Uganda first marked the National Condom Day in 2009.