“Condoms from Haiti. I snapped this picture somewhat sheepishly in a store in Jacmel, but the prices were similar in port-au-prince as well. Each condom costs 12 Haitian gourds, which equals approximately 0.27 USD - a quarter.
Now to put things into perspective, GDP per capita was estimated to be around $400 USD in 2005 when I was there. To simplify the picture, let’s just say that figure was $365 at $1 USD per day per person. Under this assumption, a Haitian would have to use 1/4 of his daily wage to buy a condom.
Can you imagine this? You live in the country with the highest prevalence of HIV in the Western Hemisphere. Yet for you to have sex safely, you have to use up a significant portion of a your day’s wage. This before counting a dinner bill! What is your daily wage? Can you imagine paying $20 for a single condom?”A great point made by my friend, Aram.
This is really sad to me. I’ve been trying for a little while to find organizations that provide condoms to countries who desperately need them. I know the Pope said it really won’t help anything, but I feel like it’s important to make condoms available (and affordable) to everyone.
If I may provide an opposing viewpoint: this is not such a bad thing. Ideally, it should prevent him from having sex.
It’s like that Chris Rock idea that bullets should be a thousand dollars each. He’s got a gun. Firing that bullet should be f’ing expensive. And if that man can’t afford a $20 condom, how the hell is he going to afford raising a child?
He’s got to pay for private school bills, SAT prep tutors, and (perhaps most importantly) juice cleanses! All that shit adds up. In the last example, literally, I guess.
