Chronicle Editor
Condom shortage in a Kenyan town has reportedly forced residents to recycle used condoms, as they try to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases.
According to Daily Nation, Archer Post, a small town that splits Isiolo and Samburu counties, is popular with local and international tourists, and has over the years, experienced a spike in sex trade, as jobless women take up prostitution.
Although female condoms have been available in the town for more than a decade, they are not yet popular with local residents, the report said.
The shortage of male condoms which are more popular in the town has led residents to come up with various alternatives, which include washing used condoms and using polythene paper.
These unconventional methods have led to the spread of HIV/Aids in the area, said the report.
This comes a few days after the country’s ministry of health recalled Fiesta Stamina and Fiesta Big Black condoms on grounds that they were substandard, according to the Star newspaper.
The board said in a letter to Cupid Limited dated November 20, that the condoms were faulty.
But, the Pharmacy and Poisons board chief executive officer Fred Siyoi said the recall of the condoms was for a specific batch and could not have led to shortages.
He assured the public that they were other brands that were not affected and were safe.
Currently, nearly one million Kenyans are on HIV treatment, including 53 067 mothers who were on the treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT).
— AP
derick.khumalo