THE NEW YORK POST

By  FRANKIE EDOZIEN 
February 14 2008 - Happy Valentine’s Day - here’s a condom. 

In what’s become a Valentine’s Day tradition of sorts, city health officials will be at subway stations today to hand out the city’s free condoms in sleek new packages with the slogan: “Get some.”

    “We want to give away as many condoms as people will use because we’re trying to make New York City an even safer place to have sex, and this is a powerful way to do it,” said Monica Sweeney, the Health Department’s assistant commissioner for HIV prevention.

    The new condom wrappers are all black with white lettering and a smattering of rainbow colors. They feature the slogan “Get some” over the label “NYC Condom.”

    Venues that will stock the free condoms will receive a new platinum-colored dispenser intended to draw people in to, well, get some.

    The Health Department released its first official New York City condom last year, distributing about 3 million a month. The old packaging was inspired by the city’s subway logos with brightly colored circles and letters.

    The new condom wrapper designs were a gift to the city from designer Yves Behar, of the San Francisco-based agency fuseproject.

    “We gave out more than 36 million of them last year. I hope the fresh look will help even more New Yorkers protect themselves from infection and unintended pregnancy in 2008,” Sweeney said.

    The free condom initiative is part of the city’s effort to reduce rates of sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies. 

    The Big Apple remains the nation’s epicenter of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, with nearly 100,000 of New York’s 8.2 million residents infected.

    Currently, about 900 establishments - some restaurants, bars and salons, but mostly nonprofit groups - offer the condoms, Sweeney said.     

    Condom-carrying street teams from the department will greet commuters today at subway stations, including Union Square, Penn Station and Times Square in Manhattan; Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn; and 149th Street and Grand Concourse in The Bronx.

Last Modified : February 17th, 2008 Filed under : Newspaper Navigate : Previous post / Next post