Condoms made in China too small, says Zimbabwe health minister

Health Minister David Parirenyatwa of the Republic of Zimbabwe in Africa challenged local businesses to try a hand in manufacturing condoms, as the imported ones from China were “too small.” According to The New Zimbabwe, a weekly newspaper, Parirenyatwa said on Tuesday that some local men were complaining about the China-made condoms’ mismatched size.

“The youths now have a particular condom that they like, but we don’t manufacture them,” Parirenyatwa told The New Zimbabwe. “We import condoms from China and some complain that they are too small. We need to look at that; you need to be able to have your own condoms. So, if you want to be a big businessman, then manufacture them for the region.”

Meanwhile, Chinese condom manufacturer Beijing Daxiang and His Friends Technology Co. is looking into making contraceptives of different sizes in light of Parirenyatwa’s statement.

“As to the different demands for customers such as in Zimbabwe, Daxiang, as a Chinese manufacturer, has the ability and the obligation to make a contribution,” Zhao Chuan, chief executive of Daxiang, told the South China Morning Post yesterday via an email. “So we have started to do some surveys on users data in the region to make preparations for future products with different sizes.”

The government of Zimbabwe turns to contraceptives, specifically condoms, as one of their measures to fight HIV/AIDS. It is known that Zimbabwe is among the sub-Saharan African countries with the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS at 13.5 percent. In 2016, it was discovered that about 1.3 million Zimbabweans were infected with the virus.