Busia county residents are complaining about a lack of government-supplied condoms.
The residents of Busia town, the majority of whom are commercial sex workers, claim they are now forced to wash and reuse contraceptives in order to meet the sexual needs of their customers.
According to a sex worker who spoke to a local television station, the county has been suffering from a shortage of female and male condoms for some time, with the few that are available coming from the neighboring country of Uganda.
Women who cannot afford to buy condoms resort to recycling them after washing them to protect themselves against dreaded sexually transmitted infections such as HIV.
“We are pleading with the government to release condoms to Busia because our lives are at risk,” the woman told NTV.
However, Janerose Ambuchi, the Director of Medical Services in Busia County, stated that her office was unaware of the contraceptive recycling.
“It has not come to my desk but if it’s happening it should not be allowed to continue because the integrity of the condom is going to be affected. The second and third use because of lack of condoms will expose this generation to danger,” Ambuchi said.
The officer attributed the short supply of condoms to a decline in international donor funding.
“The county (Busia) is experiencing an acute shortage of condoms which is not a Busia problem alone. It’s a national problem. This is a donor-funded commodity based on a global fund. At the moment, donor funding has dwindled,” she said.
