More on Condoms and Harm Reduction
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 11:46 AM

Yesterday Vice Squad mentioned some Somalis who were not
taking well to anti-AIDS harm reduction measures. Today's
Chicago Tribune has a story (registration required) about the
opposite approach being taken by the city government of Washington,
DC. The Bush administration, which emphasizes abstinence over harm
reduction, is not "actively opposing" the program. Here are three
paragraphs with some details:

"In an effort to curb the nation's highest incidence of AIDS, the D.C. Department of Health has begun installing free condom dispensers in bars... and in government buildings across the city. It's believed to be the first program of its kind in the nation.

'They're going to be as common as water fountains,' said Ivan Torres, interim director of the city government's HIV/AIDS Administration, when he introduced the program Dec. 1, World AIDS Day.

In 2004, city officials hope to hand out about 550,000 male condoms, 30,000 female condoms and 45,000 dental dams (used during oral sex) to places such as the D.C. Housing Authority and the Department of Motor Vehicles, as well as to beauty salons, bars and barber shops."

This earlier Vice Squad post discussed harm reduction around teen
drug use.

Labels: harm reduction, HIV, sex