Brazil to buy a billion condoms
2005-01-21 09:28
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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned governments against using the economic crisis as an excuse to cut funding for fighting Aids.
Brasilia - The Brazilian health ministry plans to buy one billion condoms in 2006 to distribute as part of Aids-prevention campaigns, an official said on Thursday.
Pedro Chequer, director of the National Programme on Venereal Diseases and Aids, said the ministry is scrambling to buy the condoms early because there is a shortage of them worldwide.
"If the whole world population decided to use condoms, there would not be enough in storage even to begin to meet" demand, he said.
Brazilian authorities put a lot of emphasis on Aids prevention, especially during carnival time in February. Chequer said 11 million condoms will be handed out free of charge across Brazil during the carnival alone. He said the figure for the whole year would be 120 million.
Chequer said that even though opinion polls showed nearly 100% of sexually active Brazilians believe the condom is the best protection against disease, "in practice, it is used in less than two-thirds of relations", underscoring the need for publicity campaigns.
By 2008, the government wants to have distributed about three billion condoms, he said. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA