Ghana’s Condom Market and the Affordability Question
Bright Addo, Kenneth Ankoma-Mensah, Kamil Fuseini, Yakubu Alhassan & Isaac Nkrumah
ABSTRACT
| Ghana’s condom market, as documented in the tfho–RESEARCH Retail Audit of Selected Family Planning, Maternal and Child Health and Hygiene Products in the Private Sector, is well stocked. Male condoms were available in 79.8% of the 2,707 retail outlets surveyed, and in more than 95% of pharmacies and OTCMSs. The market supports more than 40 brands. By supply metrics, condoms are accessible. And yet: price does not disappear when stock arrives on a shelf. Across all outlets, the median retail price of a male condom is GHS 2.30 per eache. For Ghana’s dominant brand, Kiss, found in 66.1% of all outlets, the price is GHS 1.70. Against a minimum wage of GHS 18.15 per day, and against the economic reality of a youth population facing 32% unemployment, these figures are not trivial. This brief examines the price dimension of condom access in Ghana. It asks not only whether condoms are affordable in the narrow financial sense, but how price, as both a cost and a signal, shapes the decision to use protection at all. And beneath the numbers is an attitude this brief also examines: sex is natural and free. Why should protection cost money? |
Keywords: Condom pricing, Affordability, Youth purchasing power, HIV prevention, Ghana, Retail audit, Market dominanceGhana’s condom market has never been better stocked. A nationwide retail audit across more than 3,800 outlets found male condoms available in 80% of surveyed retail points and over 95% of dedicated health retail channels. The market supports more than 40 brands. Supply, by any reasonable measure, is not a constraint.
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