BLANTYRE, Malawi, June 17, 2002 (LSN.ca) – Condom promoting billboards in Malawi featuring a near-naked woman have caused outrage among religious leaders in the country. Twenty churches signed a petition calling for the ad to be censored saying: “Enticing the population to sex to promote the sale of condoms is like happily dousing us with petrol for the sake of promoting fire extinguishers”.
The censorship board wrote to the NGO, Population Services International (PSI), which produced the billboards asking them to remove the offensive ad.
Of note, PSI is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). A USAID release on funding “reproductive health” projects in Malawi for 2002 and 2003 lists PSI among its “Principal Contractors, Grantees or Agencies.” (with files from Jim Ruud of Covenant News) See the Malawi coverage and the USAID sheet on the country: https://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Southern_Africa/0,1113,2-11-40_1192028,00.html https://www.usaid.gov/country/afr/mw/612-008.html