Several Ugandans are still in a state of panic after an investigation found and revealed that the Lifeguard condoms were faulty according to local media report.
According to other details, the supplier of Lifeguard condoms brand in the country recalled millions of condoms. This also followed another massive recall of millions of defective Ngabo condom brand.
Government has never come up clean on what it has done to fix the problem and has not provided a report on whether these faulty condoms were actually fetched from circulation.
“This Massive Lifeguard condom failure and recall was the second after the massive Ngabo condom failure with millions of defective condoms burned in Uganda..The promised report never came out as BigPhama did not want to pay damages for failure. Hey Anthony Natif can you help us know if a government investigation and report was done,’’ queried Pastor Martin Ssempa also a social critic.
It should also be remembered that in 2019, charity Marie Stopes International is recalling more than a million condoms in Uganda, after officials raised concerns that they were prone to breaking.
Marie Stopes International began the recall of packets of Life Guard condoms after the National Drug Authority found they contained holes and did not meet quality standards.
Lifeguard (LG) condom has been in Uganda for over 20 years and commands 43% market share in the commercial and socially marketed condom category based on the 2019 sales data.
However, in October 2019, due to an internal supply chain failure Marie Stopes claimed that 1,001,220 pieces of Lifeguard that failed NDA condom test were unintentionally released to the market.
“There is nothing more we can do since the damage is already done but we continue to appeal to Ugandans who used this type of condoms between April to October 2019 to go and get tested for STDs and in case one is found infected, they should seek treatment from our health centres’,’ said Sarah Opendi the former minister of state for Health
After suffering negative publicity and triggering a crisis, Marie Stopes decided to change the Lifeguard manufacturer to a capable UNFPA pre-qualified supplier Thai Nippon rubber industry which supplies both Kiss and Hot pink condoms in Uganda.
Thai Nippon rubber industry and Co. Limited (TNR), has been in existence since 1993.
Over the years it has manufactured condoms for domestic and globally use which are exported to over 100 countries in different continents including Europe, Africa, America and in middle-east etc.
