Hotels to dispense condoms

In an effort to strengthen the fight against HIV/AIDS, the "Condom Vapra Campaign" (use condom campaign) was launched today to promote their use in 22 high-prevalence districts of Maharashtra.

During the campaign, a multi-sectoral initiative backed by the state government, 14,000 condom vending machines will be installed in non-traditional outlets like restaurants, bars and public toilets in the districts in two phases, Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust (HLFPPT) CEO G Manoj said.

The other partners in the initiative are USAID, AVERT society and other NGOs. Maharashtra was chosen for the intiative as 22 of the 49 high-risk districts in the country are in the state.

Moreover, the high-risk group in Maharashtra includes migratory workers and youths aged 21 to 26.

"This is a unique situation in Maharashtra as a study showed that 60 per cent of multi-sex partners do not consider they are at high risk of getting the disease," Manoj said.

Various modes of communication form part of the awareness, education and implementation campaign.This is the first effort by HLFPPT to work with HIV/AIDS high-risk groups and promote condoms as part of social marketing efforts, he said.

In some high-risk districts like Sangli and Satara, NGOs and the government are together working by visiting commerical sex workers.