OBJECTIVES Female condoms are the only female-initiated HIV and pregnancy prevention technology currently available. We examined female condom counselling and provision among providers in South Africa and Zimbabwe, high HIV-prevalence countries. DESIGN A cross-sectional study using a nationally representative survey. SETTING All facilities that provide family planning or HIV/sexually transm...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of a theory-based tailored minimal self-help intervention to increase condom use among young women at risk for HIV/sexually transmitted disease (STD). DESIGN Randomized controlled trial on an intent-to-treat basis in two managed care plans, in Washington state and North Carolina, with follow-up at 3 and 6 months. PARTICIPANTS A proactively recruited sample...

BACKGROUND People living in rural areas have limited access to condoms owing to distance, cost and time involved in travelling to public health facilities, around which most condom distribution efforts are centralised. OBJECTIVE In an effort to increase access to condoms in these areas, we explored the feasibility and efficacy of condom distribution by placing 'condocans' on trees along infor...

In 2005, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) made free condoms available to organizations through a Web-based ordering system. In 2006, we interviewed managers and patrons about free condom availability, acquisition, and use in venues where people at high risk for human immunodeficiency virus congregate. DOHMH condom distribution increased from 5.8 million in 2004 ...

A study based on a convenience sample of 177 couples who each used 11 condoms found that 103 condoms (5.3%) broke before or during intercourse and 67 condoms (3.5%) slipped off during sex. Couples who had not used a condom in the past year were almost twice as likely to experience condom failure as were couples who had used at least one during that period (p < .001). Of the couples who had used...

Kudos to you for wanting to apply your smart shopper standards to future condom purchases. With so many different varieties of condoms available on the market, making a decision about which one(s) to purchase can be overwhelming. Before getting into the details of condom selection, know that in the United States, condom manufacturers must follow the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards,...

If my partner and I have been monogamous for three years (and I was a virgin before we met) and my partner tested negative for the HIV virus (twice, about two years ago, with a six-month gap between the tests) is it safe for us to use a birth control method other than a condom? That is, are there still any STDs that my partner might have without knowing it, that we should be worried about, even...

With the increased use of condoms, contact dermatitis to rubber is being seen more often. To develop a rubber condom suitable for use by rubber sensitive people, a "hypoallergenic" condom, which is washed in ammonia to reduce the residues of rubber accelerators, has been manufactured. Fifty patients allergic to various rubber accelerators were patch tested with an ordinary condom and the new wa...

Encouraging condom use among young women is a major focus of HIV/STI prevention efforts but the degree to which they see themselves as being at risk limits their use of the method. In this paper, we examine the extent to which condom use has become normalised among young women. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 year old women from eastern Scotland (N=20). Purposive sampling was used to...

The paper aims to provide evidence on consistent condom use dynamics among sex workers in Central America between 1997 and 2000, and to examine the most important predictors of use behaviour important for policy and programme interventions in the region. Data on 3500 sex workers, 1500 from 1997 and 2000 from the year 2000, were analysed. The samples represented sex workers in low socioeconomic ...