The price of condoms in Zimbabwe is so high, that a three pack will cost you about the same price as the minimum wage domestic workers take home, local media reported last week.
If that’s not disturbing enough, according to local media, s.e.x workers in the country are allegedly having to resort to using bread packets as contraception as the price of condoms and basic essentials continues to rise.
In Chiadzwa, a condom is sold for between $1 (about R15) and $2, depending on the scarcity of the product at that particular time, says ‘The Manica Post’.
‘The Manica Post’ further revealed that the condom crisis came to light during a media tour organized by the National Aids Council.
The Zimbabwean Government announced through a gazette last week that the official domestic worker wage is ZW$10,000. Now a pack of condoms today is ZW$12,200! This is what ZANUPF’s incompetence and corruption have done! A person’s monthly salary is less than a pack of 3 condoms,” writes prominent Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin’ono.
Citing a report by ‘The Manica Post, a 21-year-old sex worker from Mutare told journalists that she started sex work at 16, and bread packaging was being used as a substitute for condoms when sex workers face shortages.
Mutare is the most populous city in the province of Manicaland, and the third most populous city in Zimbabwe.
It could easily break and put the people involved at risk of transmission of sexually transmitted disease, added Zuze.
A very short story of how a ruined economy has created more problems for the oldest profession in the world.
How it started👇🏿The consequences 👇🏿 pic.twitter.com/gvcyEV3gTK
— Hopewell Chin’ono (@daddyhope) June 4, 2022
