An empty condom dispenser seen with a Nik Naks wrapper inside at one of the clinics monitored by Ritshidze. This is according to a Spotlight analysis of data recently published in the Health System Trust’s District Health Barometer.
Provincial departments of health have pin-pointed the time required for certification of condoms by the South African Bureau of Standards following the start of a new condoms tender in 2022 as a key driver of the decline, yet Health System Trust's District Health Barometer data shows that condom distribution figures have in fact steadily declined over the past five years.
Spokesperson for the Eastern Cape Health Department, Sizwe Kupelo, told Spotlight in response to questions for this article that in 2022/23"for most of the year there were no condoms to distribute". Kupelo said that condom supply in the province was now improving. He said that the province had reached 96.7% of its target to distribute 17 million condoms in quarter 3 of 2023/24 . Lungelo Ntobongwana, acting CEO of the SABS, told Spotlight that all condoms that are distributed nationally by the Department of Health were tested at the SABS condom laboratory in Groenkloof, Pretoria."The laboratory is an accredited and dedicated laboratory for the testing of condoms," he said.
Anele Yawa, general secretary of the Treatment Action Campaign , told Spotlight that the organisation faced challenges in accessing adequate condoms for its community outreach efforts. He said when TAC undertakes community outreach efforts, its members request condoms from public health facilities for distribution in communities but are sometimes told that there are not enough condoms for this.