The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has approved a plan to distribute $2 million worth of female condoms to clinics and organizations throughout the five boroughs.
Though male condoms are the mainstay of the Health Department's free condom program, demand for female condoms, which are inserted like diaphragms, is on the rise. Last year, the city distributed 659,000 female condoms, 200,000 more than in 2006, the department said. In 2007, the city handed out 37 million male condoms.
Monica Sweeney, assistant commissioner of the Health Department's HIV Prevention and Control Bureau, said the city is doing more education about female condoms to community-based groups and clinics in neighborhoods with high rates of HIV/AIDS. "Many women did not know it was an option, and many women could not afford to purchase them, so we decided to make them available," she said. Female condoms cost around $3 each, compared with $1 for male condoms, she added.
"I want to make sure there is a female condom in the hands of anyone who wants to use it," said Sweeney. "We want females to have this as an alternative if they can't negotiate with their male partner to use a male condom."
New Yorkers seeking to access free female condoms can contact the Department of Health at www.nyc.gov/html/doh or phone 311, said Sweeney.
06/15/08
NEW YORK: City Health Department Puts Out $2 Million for Female Condoms
Source: New York Daily News:: Kathleen Lucadamo; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention