The Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority (ZAMRA) and Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS) have partnered to start testing the quality of condoms before they are placed on the market This will help curb the circulation of counterfeit and substandard condoms. ZAMRA director general Bernice Mwale said having good quality condoms on the market will help prevent unwanted pregnancies, Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV /AIDS.

She was speaking recently during a signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between ZAMRA and ZABS.
Ms Mwale said ZAMRA and ZABS have different responsibilities but they will together ensure that the condoms meet the set standards.
She said the Medicines and Allied Substances Act has been expanded to include the regulation of allied substances, which include condoms.

She said the MoU will formalise and cement the already existing collaborative efforts between ZAMRA and ZABS so as to ensure that each institution knows its roles required to ensure that only condoms of acceptable standards are placed on the market.

Mrs Mwale appealed to the public to be vigilant by reporting any products that are not labelled or those labelled in foreign languages other than the recommended local or English languages. ZABS director general Manuel Mutale said the signing of the MoU has come at the right time as the intervention is meant to supplement Government efforts on ending HIV/AIDS by 2030.

Mr Mutale said the main aim of the MoU is to help reduce the risk posed by the use of unverified condoms. He said ZABS condoms testing laboratories in were created 2008 to respond to the needs of having a conformity assessment facility to test male latex condoms and surgical gloves.