Florence Uwaeme
As people rushed to stock up following the outbreak of the coronavirus in Nigeria, condoms stockers were not left behind.
Pharmacies and retail shops are running short of condoms in the oil city as people lay their hands on things they think will enhance their survival during the stay at home period.
Stores owners said they could not restock due to restrictions imposed by the government on movement.
Pharmacies and convenience stores visited in Port Harcourt had clear depletion of condoms.
Store owners said they have started rationing the products by limiting it to two packs per persons.
Some buyers also complained that the prices have gone up to almost 70 per cent due to the rush.
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Malaysia’s Karex Bhd, a company that makes one in every five condoms globally said there will be a general shortage due to shut down in production.
The company said it has not produced a single condom from its three Malaysian factories in the past 10 days due to a lockdown imposed by the government to halt the spread of the virus.
That’s already a shortfall of 100 million condoms, normally marketed internationally by brands such as Durex, Gold Circle, supplied to state healthcare systems or distributed by aid programmes such as the UN Population Fund.
We are going to see a global shortage of condoms everywhere, which is going to be scary,’ Karex Chief Executive Goh Miah Kiat told Reuters this week.
‘My concern is that for a lot of humanitarian programmes deep down in Africa, the shortage will not just be two weeks or a month. That shortage can run into months.’
The other major condom-producing countries are China, where the coronavirus originated and led to widespread factory shutdowns, and India and Thailand, which are seeing infections spiking only now.
