{"id":3145,"date":"2025-02-06T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahflatamycaribe.org\/?p=3145"},"modified":"2025-02-05T13:54:06","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T19:54:06","slug":"international-condom-day-just-use-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahflatamycaribe.org\/en\/international-condom-day-just-use-it\/","title":{"rendered":"International Condom Day: Just Use It!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the <\/span><b>World Health Organization (WHO)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, globally, more than <\/span><b>1 million people between the ages of 15 and 49 contract a sexually transmitted infection (STI) every day<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. In <\/span><b>Latin America and the Caribbean<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, this number reaches <\/span><b>200,000 per day<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Despite these high figures, <\/span><b>condom use is declining<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in many regions due to <\/span><b>lack of access, sexual health taboos, or simply because people resist using them<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In response, <\/span><b>AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014the world\u2019s largest nonprofit organization in the global response to HIV and AIDS\u2014has launched its campaign <\/span><b>\u201cJust Use It!\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, encouraging people, especially <\/span><b>young individuals<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, to <\/span><b>use condoms correctly, protect themselves, and stay healthy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><b>Condoms are the most affordable, accessible, and easy-to-use method<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for practicing protected and healthy sexuality. There are <\/span><b>external (male) condoms<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, also known as <\/span><b>external condoms<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><b>internal (female) condoms<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for vaginal use. Regardless of the type of sexual practice, <\/span><b>using a condom is the key<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to preventing <\/span><b>over 20 sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"International Condom Day 2024 Global Recap\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AkyAd1oHES8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the <\/span><b>fastest-growing STIs worldwide<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is <\/span><b>syphilis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Between <\/span><b>2020 and 2022<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, syphilis cases <\/span><b>increased by more than 30%<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> among <\/span><b>adults aged 15 to 49<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the <\/span><b>Americas<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, according to a report by the <\/span><b>Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><b>International Condom Day<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is celebrated <\/span><b>one day before Valentine\u2019s Day worldwide<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and was initially proposed by <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/aidshealth\/albums\/72157614027460432\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AIDS Healthcare Foundation<\/a> in 2009<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><b>Access is Still a Major Issue<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From rural areas to urban centers, the challenge of protecting people in Latin America and the Caribbean from HIV and other STIs lies in ensuring consistent access to condoms, which remain the most affordable method for preventing HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, stated Dr. Patricia Campos, Bureau Chief for AHF Latin America and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWith one-third of the population living below the poverty line, and nearly 50% among young people, it is urgent to ensure that condoms are available for free and without stigma in public health centers, entertainment venues, and even public transportation systems.\r\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The more accessible condoms are\u2014in terms of both location and cost or gratuity\u2014the more their use will increase, preventing millions of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AHF <\/span><b>offers free condoms<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at all of its <\/span><b>healthcare centers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for everyone. <\/span><b>Find the nearest AHF center and get free condoms<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. You can also take advantage of <\/span><b>free STI screening and treatment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, as well as <\/span><b>HIV testing<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, all at no cost\u2014thanks to AHF being a nonprofit foundation.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AHF, the largest nonprofit in the HIV\/AIDS response, launched &#8220;Just Use It!&#8221; to promote proper condom use and protection among young people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahflatamycaribe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahflatamycaribe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahflatamycaribe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahflatamycaribe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahflatamycaribe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ahflatamycaribe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahflatamycaribe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahflatamycaribe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahflatamycaribe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahflatamycaribe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}