Coffee Condoms Latest Weapon In War On AIDS In Ethiopia

November 4, 2007 9:47 a.m. EST

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (AHN) - A U.S.-based charity hopes to fight the spread of AIDS with a unique product that appeals to coffee mania in the country: java-scented condoms for Ethiopia.

DKT International, a Washington D.C.-based charity says the novelty product addresses the serious issue of AIDS in Ethiopia, which has an AIDS rate of 2.1 percent. The capital Addis Ababa alone has an AIDS infection rate of more than 7 percent.

The director of DKT's local chapter, Andrew Piller, stressed that the aim of the coffee condoms was not to make money, but to make condom-users more comfortable.

With the common complaint about the latex scent of plain condoms, DKT said it had come out with the idea of the coffee condom, which has so far sold more than 300,000 in Ethiopia in one week alone in September.

"Everybody likes the flavor of coffee," says a DKT spokeswoman, Emebet Abu.

The condoms sell in packs of three for $0.11, about half the price of a cup of coffee in one of Addis Ababa's many sidewalk cafes, and much cheaper than unsubsidized condoms.