Made-in-China condoms are too small for us - Zimbabwe’s Health Minister

Zimbabwe's minister for health says condoms made by Chinese companies are too small for men in the country.

Health Minister David Parirenyatwa called on the county’s manufacturers to start producing condoms for the local population.

According to New Zimbabwe, Parirenyatwa made the comments last week at an awareness event in the capital Harare.

Despite having one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS infection in the world, most of the condoms in Zimbabwe are imported from China.  

“Youths now have a particular condom that they like, but we don’t manufacture them. We import condoms from China and some men complain they are too small,” the minister said.

The politician challenged local companies to start manufacturing indigenous condoms instead of relying on Chinese imports. “You need to be able to have your own condoms,” Parirenyatwa said. 

“If you want to be a big businessman, then manufacture them for the region.”

In response, one Chinese condom manufacturer announced that it is planning to produce condoms of different sizes to satisfy demand. 

Speaking to the South China Morning Post, Zhao Chuan, chief executive of condom manufacturer Beijing Daxiang, said the company has “the ability and the obligation” to provide condoms of an appropriate size. 

“We have started to do some surveys on users’ data in the region to make preparations for future products,” he said.

Zimbabwe has some of the worst rates of HIV/AIDS infection among countries in sub-Saharan Africa, with an estimated 13.5 percent of adults in the country infected with HIV. 

The country is one of the top five importers of the contraceptive in the world.