For the price of the Iraq War, we could give everyone in sub-Saharan Africa enough condoms to have sex every night of their adult lives. Sub-Saharan Africa has 770 million residents. The population is expected to nearly double by 2050, and 6.1% of adults are infected with HIV. Assuming that the disease-preventing benefits of condoms would raise life expectancy in the region to the global average of 66 years, the residents would be having 13.5 trillion nights of sex.
At ripnroll, a case of a thousand Lifestyles Large condoms costs $159. At this price, equipping the population of sub-Saharan Africa for a lifetime of sex every night would cost $2.15 trillion, which is less than Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes' estimate of $3 trillion for the cost of the Iraq War.
Image used under a Creative Commons License from amalthya.
