Elizabeth Mwai
9 May 2008
Nairobi — Kenya has about one billion condoms in the stores, which will last up to 2012.
About 900 million of the condoms are in Government stores, while the remaining 100 million are in the hands of users and private chemists.
Despite the condom glut, teenage pregnancies are on the rise, an indication that they are not practising safe sex.
This is the reality that greeted Medical Services minister, Prof Anyang' Nyong'o, on Thursday only hours after he had been sworn-in as a Cabinet minister at a function witnessed by President Kibaki at Harambee House, Nairobi.
The minister said the country uses 120 million condoms a year or 10 million a month.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, there are about 10 million male adults who can access and use condoms.
The Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa) attributed the condom glut to third parties and unco-ordinated procurement.
Donor programmes are also to blame for the glut, as is the case for surplus anti-malaria drugs and contraceptives.
Nyong'o made an extensive tour of Kemsa premises where he also found huge quantities of drugs in the stores even as public dispensaries, health centres and hospitals countryside report serious shortages.
"Fortunately, the good news is that they will not expire until 2012 - just before the elections," Nyong'o quipped.
Kemsa faces a serious challenge in distributing drugs and other medical supplies due to lack of funds. It receives funding from the Government annually and, therefore, cannot afford extra costs to distribute donations.
Nyong'o, who was making a maiden tour of Kemsa, said coordination was crucial in the purchase of drugs and other medical equipment.
The medical agency has proposed that it becomes a State Corporation with the mandate to procure drugs and other medical supplies.
Among the drugs the agency distributes are antibiotics, anaesthetics, multi-vitamins, anti-retrovirals, TB and family planning.
They also store emergency drugs and non-pharmaceuticals such as catheters and syringes.
At the same time, Kemsa wants donors to give at least five per cent of the quantity they donate for distribution.
The minister announced plans to devolve the agency's operations to minimise risks. Nyong'o said Sh20 million would be allocated to set up warehouses in the districts.
He said devolution would involve offloading supplies to regional depots to speed up distribution.
"It will also ensure that if a store catches fire, all the drugs and medical supplies are not destroyed," Nyong'o said.
Kemsa chairman, Mr Peter Kanyago, said the agency was in talks with development partners over coordination.
"When our development partners donate drugs, we cannot refuse. During the post-election crisis, we had so many drug donations," said Kanyago said.
Coordination in the distribution of drugs to health facilities would be smooth if procurement was done by one entity. But he disclosed that development partners procure supplies that take long to distribute.
Kanyago said there have been complaints that Kemsa equipment was outdated and it was, therefore, difficult to trace drugs.
It requires about Sh400 million to modernise the warehouses and streamline activities.
The problem, Kanyago said, was made worse by the fact that Kemsa does not own the warehouses. They lease facilities not ideally designed for the work.
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