Contraceptive Pearls
Condom Watch
Q: In the era of HIV/AIDS, condoms are a major prevention modality. How many condoms are provided by donors annually to programs in Africa (to the nearest whole number per man 15-59)?
- 1 condom per man?
- 3 condoms per man?
- 9 condoms per man?
- 12 condoms per man?
- 23 condoms per man?
A: The answer is 3. Based on best available (and fairly complete) data. In 1999 donors provided about 500 million condoms for the approximately 156 million men 15-59 in subsaharan Africa. This number was up from the 316 million in 1998, but markedly down from the peak level of about 800 million condoms in 1995.
Condom Capacity
Q: I recall you saying that donors provide about 500 million condoms a year to sub-Saharan Africa. But how many condoms are actually produced each year in the world?
A: As far as I know, there is actually no condom census. Based on an informed guestimate, however, the correct answer is one of those below.
- 3 Billion
- 7 Billion
- 18 Billion
- 49 Billion
The correct answer is about 7 billion (compare with the world’s approximately 6 billion people). Importantly, there is plenty of condom manufacturing capacity in the world, so that tripling or quadrupling the number of condoms provided to sub-Saharan Africa to 1.5 billion or 2 billion is not constrained by manufacturing capacity.
These “Pearls” are prepared by Dr. James D. Shelton, Senior Medical Scientist, Office of Population, United States Agency for International Development (USAID). January 2001.
