Chandigarh: Condom conundrum

January 4, 2007

Condom conundrum

Preeti Jha

Published 08 January 2007. Print version Listen Can a condom bar

raise awareness about HIV in India?

In Chandigarh, north India, a study has revealed that 30 per cent of

students in the city practise unprotected sex. So I was cheered to

learn that a group aiming to raise awareness of HIV/Aids is to launch

a condom bar. My enthusiasm was short-lived. The man in charge of

setting up the bar could not, he said, discuss the issue with " a

lady " .

How, I wondered, did he intend to raise awareness among women without

speaking to them?

I asked around. Mayank Kaushik, a male student at the city's Panjab

University, was not surprised by the response I had received. " Nobody

here talks about sex openly. I'm 19 and my parents have never talked

to me about safe sex, " he confessed. Aseem Aggarwal, another young

man from the university, wasn't shocked either, and put me right on

Indian etiquette: " It is quite natural that a man did not discuss

details with you. You should have spoken about this only to a woman. "

Worse was to come when I spoke to young female students. They shied

away from offering any opinion at all on condoms.

Undeterred, the Chandigarh authorities have installed 22 condom

vending machines in the city, including near the campus. But, without

the accompanying education for both sexes, the project seems doomed.

One student told me: " Condoms are not used for protection against

STDs, but I have seen children making balloons out of them. "

India recently outstripped South Africa as the country with the

highest number of people living with HIV - 5.7 million at the end of

2005, according to the United Nations. And the rate of infection is

increasing rapidly. Mayank believes the Aids crisis is exacerbated by

young people's reluctance to talk about sex. Theresa Lacey, of the

New Delhi-based Naz Foundation, which focuses on HIV/Aids awareness

among students, talks of the importance of reaching the women among

them: " Many are too scared to propose condom use. It is a taboo

topic. "

The fear is that the good intentions of such NGOs and the bravery of

initiatives such as the Chandigarh condom bar will count for little

if campaigners refuse to discuss condoms with " ladies " .

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