Health leaders call for safe sex on National Condom Day
Valentine’s Day is coming up fast, but did you know 14 February is also National Condom Day?
National Condom Day started in the late eighties to promote condom use and remind people about the importance of safe sex, at the height of the HIV epidemic.
Today, over 27,000 people in Australia are living with HIV. Other STIs such as gonorrhoea and syphilis are on the rise.
“National Condom Day is celebrated each year to remind us that one of the easiest ways to look after your health, and the health of your sexual partners, is to use a cheap, readily available form of contraception that also protects against STIs,” said Tim Bavinton, executive director of Sexual Health & Family Planning ACT.
“At a time when there is continuing concern about the rates of STIs and unplanned pregnancy in Australia, it is concerning that many sexually active people still do not use condoms with casual partners.”
Victorian AIDS Council CEO Simon Ruth agrees about the importance of condoms.
“Even with new and highly effective HIV prevention methods like PrEP and undetectable viral load changing the way we think about ‘safe sex’, condoms are still the most convenient way to prevent HIV,” he said.
You can contact your local AIDS council for information and resources for safer sex.
