Headline: A chameleon enlists in war on Aids
Financial Times, February 20, 2006
By Amy Kazmin

Financial Times reporter Amy Kazmin writes, "Condoms were rarely used in Burma just a decade ago. Today they are one of the country's fastest growing consumer items - with more than 40 million purchased last year. The surging sales, up from just 2.6 million in 1996, reflect increased public awareness of HIV/AIDS.

The sales boom is also the result of efforts by Population Services International, the US-based non-governmental organisation that promotes Aphaw, Burma's top-selling condom brand.

Apart from the fact that PSI's condoms are subsidised by western aid money, the organisation operates like any other fast-moving consumer goods company. Over the last decade, clever, culturally sensitive marketing has helped it build its brand and generate public acceptance of a potentially life-saving product.

This success is vindication of PSI's decision to set up shop in Burma a decade ago in spite of criticism from pro-democracy groups that its presence could help prop up the repressive military regime.

'We are demonstrating that a lot can be done without legitimising of materially supporting the government,' says Guy Stallworthy, PSI's Burma country director. 'We are especially proud of this huge growth in condom consumption - it is the main thing that has been done over ten years to fight HIV/AIDS in this country.'

Burma - crippled by both long-term economic mismanagement and punitive western sanctions, including a US ban on Burmese imports - has one of south-east Asia's most serious HIV/AIDS epidemics, with up to 2.2 percent of adults infected. PSI supplies about 75 percent of all the condoms used in Burma; heavy subsidies, which allow them to be sold at less than one-third of their production cost, make them more affordable to the cash-strapped population.

'Price is the number one issue here - you are not going to get a mass market with an expensive product,' says Mr. Stallworthy. 'Consumers don't have much money but they are discerning and want to buy quality things... if you can somehow make quality affordable, you are bound to be a winner in this country, whether you are selling coffee or condoms.' "