UNFPA re condom shortage
------------------------
News from Kaiser RH Service 9/22/00:
CONDOMS: U.N. SUPPLY SEVERED IN HALF, OFFICIALS BLAME WESTERN NATIONS
In a "sharp rebuke" against the West, retiring U.N. Population Fund
Director Dr. Nafis Sadik on Wednesday said that industrial nations'
failure to invest money into world population programs has resulted
in a condom shortage in the developing world, Reuters reports. "These
are large countries which should be doing a lot more," Sadik said,
adding, "The resources are just not there and especially for the
products that require foreign exchange. Condom supplies are getting
disrupted."
Alex Marshall, author of this year's annual U.N. population report,
lamented that the United Nations, the world's top condom supplier,
would have to cut its distribution in half because of funding short-
ages. "We're rolling back programs because of it. It's really tragic.
It means people are dying," he said. Sadik blasted western nations --
such as the United States, Germany, France, Italy and Japan -- for
ignoring their 1994 promise to contribute US$ 5.7 billion to the
Population Fund by 2000, noting that developing nations had paid most
of their pledged US$ 11.3 billion. "Condom demand is increasing very
rapidly all over the world, but particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
We are unable to supply them because of a lack of resources," she
concluded (Reuters, 9/20). Some officials say that women in Uganda
are "recycling" used condoms by washing them out before using them
again (Edwards, National Post, 9/21).
--
Cecilia Snyder
mailto:csnyder@pcdc.org
--
Send mail for the `AFRO-NETS' conference to `afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org'.
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org'.