Dylan Bettencourt
The high price of condoms has forced Zimbabwean sex workers to improvise. There have been reports that they are resorting to using bread packets as a form of protection.
A three-pack of condoms is the same price as the monthly salary of an average domestic worker, according to IOL.
In the city of Chiadzwa, a condom is sold for around R15 or R30 depending on the availability of the product.
A 21-year-old sex worker told The Manica Post that now that they face shortages, they are forced to use the packets loaves are wrapped in as a condom replacement.
The condom crisis began following a media tour organised by the National Aids Council, the Zimbabwean publication indicated.
Dr Tendai Zuze, a medical practitioner from Mutare, said that the use of bread packets poses a major risk as it cannot serve as a contraceptive and cannot withstand the friction during intercouse.
This could increase the risk of sexually transmitted diseases in the country, he warned.
Reports from Zimbabwe also suggest that sex workers are accepting beans and maize as payment for their services.
Prominent Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin’ono blamed the ZANU-PF government for the rising prices.
“The Zimbabwean government announced through a gazette last week that the official domestic worker wage is ZW$10,000. Now a pack of condoms today is ZW$12,200!
“This is what ZANU-PF incompetence and corruption has done! A person’s monthly salary is less than a pack of three condoms,” he wrote on Twitter.
The latest inflation statistics in ZImbabwe for the month of May stood at 131.7%, an increase from April’s 96.4%.
Image source: @iHarare
