The number of new HIV/AIDS cases reported in Taoyuan County in the first half of this year has dropped by nearly 14 percent from the same period last year due to the county government’s efforts to raise awareness of safe sex, far higher than the national average of 1.95 percent, the Taoyuan County Government’s Public Health Bureau said.
The bureau’s statistics show that 89 new HIV/AIDS cases were reported between January and June this year, down 13.6 percent from 103 in the same period last year and compared with a 1.95 percent decrease in the national average from 1,179 cases in the first half of last year to 1,156 this year.
“About 23.6 percent of the 89 new reported cases are people aged between 15 and 24. In an effort to reduce the prevalence of the sexually transmitted disease among the youth population, the bureau has installed a total of 15 condom vending machines at universities in the county, including those set up at National Central University, Yuan Ze University and Kainan University this year,” the bureau said.
The machines have sold nearly 2,000 boxes of condoms this year, the bureau added.
According to statistics compiled by the Centers for Disease Control, as of June there have been 27,593 AIDS cases reported.
Among those infected, nearly 90 percent of them contracted the disease by having unsafe sex, the statistics showed.
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