Kenya faces condom shortage

Health authorities in Kenya said Wednesday the country was facing a condom shortage due to high demand and procurement bottlenecks, and made an emergency order of 45 million condoms.

A January consignment of 19 million condoms lasted for around six weeks. The emergency supply from the US President?s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is expected on April 10.

"The demand was eight million per month, then it went to 12 million and currently stands at around 20 million. That gives you the number of encounters people would have," Public Health Director Shahnaaz Sharif told reporters.

Kenya has a population of about 40 million.

National AIDS Control Programme deputy director Peter Cherutich said the government had signed a long-term agreement with the United Nations Population Fund to supply 180 million condoms from May.

Cherutich said distributing the prophylactics to remote regions remained problematic due to bad roads.