The Hindu Business Line : Kerala: Condom machines to be inaugurated on July 29

IN an effort to supplement the State Government's initiatives in the area of HIV prevention, Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust (HLFPPT) is launching an `any time condom' project in Kerala.

The Trust is promoted by the public sector Hindustan Latex Ltd, one of the leading manufacturers of condom and other family planning products in the country.

The condom distribution programme is being taken up under Kerala Condom Promotion Project, which is managed by HLFPPT with support from the Department for International Development (DFID) of the Government of United Kingdom.

Under the project, 100 condom vending machines will be installed in the State with the objective of making the condoms available round the clock. The machine will deliver two pieces of condoms for one rupee. The total budget for the project is Rs 3.25 crore for three years. The State-level inauguration of the vending machines is slated for July 29.

The Health Minister, Mr K.K. Ramachandran, told newspersons here on Monday that more such machines would be installed in the three corporation areas of Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode in the days to come.

The vending machines will be installed at locations such as transport bus stations, railway stations and in places where there will be large crowd at any time of the day. The machines will also be attached to shop-owners identified for the purpose.

According to official statistics, there are 2,003 AIDS cases reported in Kerala as on December 2004. It is also estimated that between 70,000 and one lakh persons are living with HIV at present in the State.

Mr M. Ayyappan, Managing Director, Hindustan Latex, said that the Condom Promotion Project aimed at increasing the risk perceptions of the people with high-risk sexual behaviours. The key challenges of the project are making high-quality condoms available in the social marketing segment in the State; reducing the resistance to condom use by high-risk male population: and creating an enabling environment for condom use.

The project is being implemented in association with the Department of Health and Family Welfare, non-governmental organisations working for HIV prevention and various shops and merchants associations in the State.

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