TANZANIA: Shipment of 10 million condoms blocked

NAIROBI, 23 April 2002 (PlusNews) - A shipment of 10 million condoms, imported by the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) for free distribution across Tanzania, is currently being held in Dar es Salaam harbour, awaiting clearance after confusion as to whether they have passed quality control requirements.

Confusion over the issue initially arose late last month when the Majira local newspaper published an article saying the imported condoms had failed permeability tests. The article quoted a letter from the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) to the Commissioner of Customs saying the condoms had failed the "water test", and therefore should not be allowed to enter the country.

However, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), this is a misinterpretation of the tests carried out. UNAIDS officials said there were two "water test" components, and this was where the confusion seemed to have arisen.

"There was a misinterpretation by Majira as they only had a letter saying that the condoms failed a water test," Hilde Basstanie, the UNAIDS Country Programme Adviser in Tanzania, told PlusNews on Friday. "The original letter never stated that the condoms were leaking, and this needs to be clarified as it has been picked up by many people and the media," she added.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) specifications for a water test involve filling a condom with water while it is hanging vertically and observing for leaks, and in this test, none of the condoms which had been subjected to it had failed, the officials said.

However, a second test - not part of the WHO requirements - was also carried out, and revealed some deficiencies. In this test, a condom is filled with water and is checked for a visual defect that would suggest a weak point.

The Tanzanian government responded by confirming that it would destroy the consignment, worth US $870,000. In a health ministry advertisement, carried by the Nipashe local newspaper on 12 April, the government said that while the UNFPA had donated the condoms in good faith, they "were examined by the TBS and found to be defective".

Humanitarian sources have questioned the effectiveness of this form of testing, suggesting that it might be more applicable to condoms brought in through commercial channels, and that further testing of condoms already at distribution points should be encouraged. Once away from the systems of control for storage and transportation, condoms ran a greater risk of being damaged and thereby losing effectiveness, they said.

Like much of Sub-Saharan Africa, the HIV/AIDS situation in Tanzania is demanding increasingly serious attention, with recent UNAIDS figures suggesting that, although they represent only 20 percent of the population, Tanzanians between the ages of 15 and 24 account for 60 percent of new infections in the country. Moreover, media reports of faulty condoms had prompted some people to express doubts over the effectiveness of condoms.

Results of a recent, week-long, survey conducted by Press Services Tanzania in Iringa, Central Tanzania, were recently reported in the Guardian local newspaper. "Apart from reinforcing the mistrust towards condoms, the news has also given a shock to those who support safe sex," those interviewed were quoted as having said.

The Guardian said the results of the survey suggested that they had given people opposed to the use of the condoms something to talk about - now with evidence to hand.

In this context, Basstanie was, however, adamant that the importance of condoms must not be understated. "Condoms are one of the few technologies we have to protect ourselves against HIV/AIDS, and that has to be stressed again and again," she said.