In this century, where the war against the dreaded HIV and AIDs has been stepped up across the world and with the increasing new cases of infections in Kenya, one would expect stringent measures from stakeholders to help prevent people.
Despite all the noise through the mainstream media on how Kenya plans to achieve universal healthcare for all by 2022, there is a section of Kenyans who cannot afford a condom or have no access due to the shortage of the same.
Welcome to Archers Post, a small but vibrant town located in Kenya’s Samburu County where men have been recycling condoms or use a polythene paper for protected sex.
According to the locals, there has been an acute shortage of condoms in the small town and the few that are available are too expensive for them to afford. Those with a privilege to own a condom in the small town have had to wash it after using and kept for future purposes.
The town is a transit point to Marsabit County and it is the place where military forces are being trained by British soldiers. It has also become a popular tourist destination with thousands of young men and women flooding the town for prostitution because it “has money” according to a lady familiar with the area.
Locals, knowing the dangers of unprotected sex, had to come up with alternative options that include the use of polythene papers or washing a condom after use because “condoms are more scarce than money” according to a resident.
Revelations about the small town have brought to surface underlying issues facing a majority of Kenyans including accessibility of sanitary towels to women in the area and other parts of the country.
“If the condoms are that expensive, you can imagine how expensive the sanitary towels might be,” said one David Indeje through a Twitter post.