Zimbabwe health minister: Chinese condoms are ‘too small’ for us

Zimbabwe’s Minister of Health and Child Care David Parirenyatwa has urged local companies to begin manufacturing their own condoms for the country, claiming that some local men complain about the size of those condoms that are being imported in from China.

Here’s the full quote from Parirenyatwa, who was speaking at the launch of a special coordinating board tasked with promoting HIV/AIDS prevention, via the local Pindula News:

You know this region, the Southern African region, has the highest incidence of HIV and we are promoting the use of condoms; both males and females.

The youths now have a particular condom that they like but we don’t manufacture them. We import condoms from China and some men complain that they are too small.

We need to look at that; you need to able to have your own condoms. So, if you want to be a big businessman, then manufacture them (condoms) for the region.

After hearing Parirenyatwa’s complaint, one Chinese condom manufacturer told the South China Morning Post that it was considering making its contraceptives in different sizes, noting that customers from around the world have different preferences and requirements.

“As to the different demands from customers such as in Zimbabwe, Daxiang, as a Chinese manufacturer, has the ability and the obligation to make a contribution, so we have started to do some surveys on users’ data in the region to make preparations for future products with different sizes,” said the CEO of condom-maker Beijing Daxiang and His Friends Technology Co.

Condoms are a very big deal in Zimbabwe, which has the sixth-highest HIV prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa at 13.5%, with 1.3 million people living with the virus in 2016.

Last month, Parirenyatwa said that a total of 111 million public sector condoms had been distributed across the country in 2017. A few years ago, Parirenyatwa even argued that condoms ought to be placed in hotel Bibles and distributed by churches.

Back in 2011, a Chinese company was blocked from importing 11 million condoms to South Africa after a local manufacturer filed a case, arguing that it’s wonderful locally-made female condoms, while more expensive, were 20% larger than those being manufactured by their Chinese counterparts.

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