Ethiopia to toss out 69 million poor quality condoms
69 million condoms that were paid for by international donors to fight spread of AIDS because of their poor quality to be tossed out, Ethiopian local media report on Thursday.
The disease-defeating contraceptives were found to be defective by the Pharmaceuticals Fund and Supply Agency (PFSA), a government body, according to a report on local station Radio Fana.
Agency director Meskele Lera said action was under way to force the condom supplier to “reimburse the money and cover all costs in the discarding process”.
The condoms worth $2m were reportedly manufactured by an unnamed Indian company and paid for by the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria but failed basic tests.
According to World Health Organisation figures, around 1.2 million Ethiopians have AIDS, equivalent to a prevalence rate of 2.4%, with significantly higher concentrations in the capital Addis Ababa.