Outrage over increase in price of condoms

A recent announcement by the Population Services International PSI has left a trail of destruction and despair. They announced that effective I August all prices of condoms had increased by over 100%. Most people did not take the statement seriously, after all, condoms were given for free at one in Zimbabwe. Reality then struck when people woke up to find condoms that they were buying for rtgs 3 going for an alarming rtgs 7 in most supermarkets.

The increase has already started posing problems especially for thigh vendors who require such items as tools of trade. Fears of an increase in STI’s and AIDS have been raised since many people cannot afford to buy condoms at such an exhorbitant price. Those in less privileged communities are the worst hit as they battle to feed themselves let alone buy such an expensive item.

Some women who spoke to this publication on the basis of anonymity claimed that even in their homesteads they have since abandoned the use of condoms because they can no longer afford to buy them. They said other contraceptive methods such as the pill or jadelle are better options at the moment. Condoms have always been sold at extremely low prices and at times would be distributed for free by PSI. That luxury has now been foregone as the entity is aligning its operations with the current economic situation.

Most people are crying foul over the increase. Some have resorted to using less othordox means of protection such as the use of traditional herbal concotions and plastics posing an even greater danger to their reproductive health.