Coronavirus: Warnings Over Condom Shortage

There’s a global condom shortage coming up, warns the world’s largest manufacturer.

Malaysia is the world’s biggest rubber producer and a main supplier of global condom demand – but with the country under lockdown like so many other places, production is being disrupted.

According to AFP, contraceptive maker Karex makes one in every five condoms sold globally, and company boss Goh Miah Kiat told the news agency that there will “definitely” be a shortage in the coming months.

The UN is sounding the alarm. Its sexual and reproductive health agency is warning it can already get only just over half of the condom supplies it needs.

“A shortage of condoms, or any contraceptive, could lead to an increase in unintended pregnancies, with potentially devastating health and social consequences for adolescent girls, women and their partners and families,” AFP cites a UN spokesperson as saying.