China To Distribute 305M Condoms to Hotels, Entertainment Venues at No Cost
The Chinese government has signed an order to purchase 305 million condoms for distribution throughout the country, China's largest condom manufacturer announced on Tuesday, Xinhuanet reports. The Gaobang Latex Products Manufactory said the government purchased the condoms using special funds allocated for HIV/AIDS prevention programs. The condoms have been sent to local sites of China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention and 42 hotels in the southern tourist city of Guilin, where Gaobang Latex is based. Condoms also will be made available at no cost in public entertainment venues, according to the manufacturer. China already has launched condom use programs in Hubei, Yunnan and Jiangsu provinces, with plans to reach regions such as Fujian and Beijing. Health officials have requested that condom use programs be implemented in all regions of the country. "If people could get a condom as convenient and natural as buying a Chinese cabbage, the AIDS prevention function carried by condom could finally imbue into people's lives and change their biases," Tao Ran, a member of the China Youth HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Fund, said, adding that condoms are still widely unaccepted by the Chinese population. According to official statistics, 30% of China's 840,000 HIV-positive people contracted the virus through unprotected sexual intercourse (Xinhuanet, 9/14).
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