Mar 25 2011
A condom shortage in Kenya caused by high demand and procurement bottlenecks has forced the country to request an emergency order of 45 million condoms from PEPFAR, Kenyan health officials said Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reports. According to the news service, a January order of 19 million condoms was exhausted in about six weeks (3/23).
The emergency supply "is expected April 10," NewsCore/Herald Sun reports. "The government also signed a long-term agreement with the U.N. Population Fund to supply 180 million condoms from May," according to the newspaper (3/24).
Capital News describes some of challenges authorities have faced during attempts to distribute condoms, as described by National AIDS Control Program Deputy Director Peter Cherutich. It also notes additional efforts by the Kenyan government to increase patient access to HIV/AIDS treatments and raise funds for HIV/AIDS programs (Ndonga, 3/23).
 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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Affordability and supply remain critical to the success of long-lasting HIV drug