Pharmac plans to add flavoured condoms to the safer sex range it subsidises in New Zealand.

The Government drug-funding agency has started consulting with stakeholders on its proposal to add a wider range of condoms on its pharmaceutical schedule – including narrow (49mm nominal width), wide (55mm and 60mm nominal widths) and flavoured condoms.

"We recognised there might be a need for a wider range," Pharmac manager of funding and procurement Steffan Crausaz said.

"So we went out to suppliers and asked them for some proposals for expanding the range of condoms on a subsidised basis in exchange for price reductions.

"We have two suppliers who made proposals for different types (of condom) and received a price reduction in return for those different brands."

One of the two suppliers – Jackson Allison Medical and Surgical Limited – includes a flavoured brand among its range proposed for Pharmac subsidy.

Pharmac already fully subsidises half a dozen brands of condom and partly subsidises another.

It is seeking feedback from medical and patient groups and suppliers on its proposal to widen the range of subsidised condoms.

It spends $860,000 a year subsidising condoms and $8.7 million on contraception overall.

Flavoured condoms have been introduced in many other countries of the world in an attempt to appeal to local tastes. Sweetcorn-fragranced condoms are popular in China, and the scent of the infamously stinky durian fruit is added to condoms for Indonesia.

Meanwhile in Ethiopia, 300,000 coffee-flavoured condoms were sold within a week of their release back in September. But even those who don't like coffee understand the important of safe sex in the country where 2.1% of the population is HIV+: "I hate coffee-flavoured condoms," said Tadesse Teferi, 37, a mechanic. "But I use ordinary condoms when I have sex with ladies other than my wife."