South Africa Condom Recall Concerns Experts

We hear of the AIDS epidemic in developing countries across the globe as a news ticker on the bottom of our television screens. Even in the United States with one million people infected with AIDS, with a nationwide population of over 300 million, many of us will go our whole lives without directly knowing somebody who has been infected or died by AIDS.  Now let these statistics about South Africa and the AIDS epidemic really sink in and your perspective may change:

*Of the 42 million people in the world infected with AIDS, almost three-quarters of those live in Africa.
*One in five people in South Africa, are living with AIDS.
*The life expectancy of South Africans is 54. Compare that to the life expectancy of 77 for Americans.
*Of the deaths occurring between the ages of 15 and 49, 71% can be directly attributed to AIDS.
*21% of South African teachers are infected with HIV.
*900 people a day die because of AIDS.

With all this put into perspective, one can only imagine the devastating repercussions of the recall of millions of condoms. According to the Ministry of Health, over five million free condoms handed out by the government, are to be immediately recalled due to thousands of them failing the air burst test (inflating the condom with air until it bursts and measuring the volume for strength). These condoms were manufactured by Kohrs Medical Supplies, a local company. The Ministry of Health issued a statement appealing “to the public and all partners involved in the distribution and promotion of the use of condoms to assist with the recall.” Since the recall, the government has canceled its Kohrs contract of supplying over 60 million condoms. The massive recall has called the Bureau of Standards’ competency into question as it is this agency’s responsibility to ensure the condoms meet required standards.

Just mere months (August 2007) before this recall, South Africa was involved in a publicized scandal in which a local condom manufacturer, Zalatex, was discovered bribing a South African Bureau of Standards official to approve condoms that had been deemed defective. This scandal prompted a recall of 20 million condoms.

What many people seem to forget is that the solution to the humanitarian crisis in Africa is not simply sending aid. A people will never learn to stand on their own if they do not develop the will themselves. The solution is complex, and involves promoting political, economic and social progress in addition to providing needed aid. Otherwise, much of the resources we pour into these countries will only exacerbate the problem by feeding the corruption of those in power.

The South African government, in an attempt to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and stop unwanted pregnancies, hands out over 400 million condoms a year. Now with a scandal in its midst and two out of seven companies contracted to produce the millions of condoms now fired, the government will have to scramble to make up the difference of the recalled condoms.