The World Bank and the UK’s Department for International Development have refused to finance the Indian government’s purchase of condoms to fight HIV/Aids because of an alleged lack of transparency in procurement procedures, the Financial Times has learnt.HIV prevention organisations are angry about the high cost of government-procured condoms, saying that scarce funds are being wasted in India, which has the world’s biggest HIV caseload, according to UNAIDS, with an estimated 5.7m carriers last year.
“Domestic preference is playing a role here that it wouldn’t in other countries, leading to a situation where India is paying 30-40 per cent more than the world average,” said a senior international civil servant running an HIV programme in India. “It is very frustrating but the government says it’s non-negotiable.”
The head of a non-governmental HIV/Aids body said: “Over a billion condoms are being manufactured under government contract every year at a price that is 25-40 per cent above the market price. It all looks very ugly to me.”
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The government now obtains condoms from local manufacturers such as the state-owned Hindustan Latex, which supplies hundreds of millions of contraceptives required under National Aids Control Program-III, a five-year plan starting next month.
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