Singapore to Give Out Condoms to Male Travelers

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Singapore to Give Out Condoms to Male Travelers

AIDS Weekly (12.23.02) - Monday, December 30, 2002

Singapore plans to distribute HIV prevention packs containing condoms to male travelers heading to what it deems high-risk destinations, the Straits Times reported. The Health Promotion Board will distribute the packs, which will also contain information on the dangers of casual sex, through local travel agents. The plan was announced at the third annual Singapore AIDS conference. Homosexual acts are illegal in Singapore, and AIDS is seldom discussed. Over 200 people in Singapore are infected with HIV every year, with the majority contracting the virus from casual sex or sex with prostitutes, the paper said. The target demographic for the program will be blue- collar workers, because more than half of all HIV-positive Singaporeans work in blue-collar jobs, according to Minister of State for Health Balaji Sadasivan. Singapore, a tightly controlled Southeast Asian city-state of 4 million people, has 1,788 HIV cases, with men ages 20 to 59 making up 90 percent of the cases.
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