Health minister denies condom shortage in the country - VIDEO

Kenya has enough condoms to last up to June this year, Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha said, refuting claims of a shortage.

The CS told journalists on Wednesday that Kenya has about 38 million condoms to be distributed to health facilities across the country.

While allaying fears of a shortage of the contraceptives in the market, she said the ministry was experiencing delivery delays to the hospitals.

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Ms Nakhumicha attributed the delays to quality checks.

“I would like to clarify to Kenya that we do not have a shortage of condoms in the country. As a matter of fact, as of this morning, we have 38 million pieces of condoms ready for use in the country,” she said.

Her remarks came barely a few days after civil society organisations (CSOs) in the health sector claimed the country was facing a shortage of about 300 million condoms annually. Kenya requires about 455 million condoms each year, but only 150 million are distributed by the government, according to the CSOs.

The shortage, the activists claimed, was so dire to the extent that commercial sex workers in some counties like Busia were forced to use one condom on more than one client.

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Ahead of the commemoration of World Aids Day on December 1, Dr Samuel Kinyanjui, the Aids Healthcare Foundation (AHF) Kenya country director, said the shortage comes at a time Kenya has registered high cases of new HIV infections.

The World Aids Day report released last month indicated that Kenya has recorded an increase in new HIV infections for the first time in a decade with more than 2,000 cases from 32,025 to 34,540.

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