Residents in Mexico’s sprawling capital were encouraged to play it safe on Valentine’s Day, as 100,000 condoms were on Thursday distributed across the city’s metro stations in the run-up to the annual love fest.
Dozens of volunteers, some dressed as garish-colored condoms, dished out packets of rubber protection across 24 metro stations as part of a campaign to prevent venereal diseases, rising HIV infections across Mexico and unwanted pregnancies.
Celebrating “International Condom Day” on Thursday, sexual safety campaigners from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation launched their campaign using the “Condom use is sexy” tagline.
Photo: Reuters
“Unfortunately, every year, because of shame or misinformation, people are infected with various diseases,” said Miriam Ruiz, head of the AIDS rapid testing area at the foundation.
Only 15 percent of Mexican couples use condoms, said the foundation, which wants to break the “taboo” around the use of condoms.
The campaign resonated with many residents in Mexico City, home to nearly 9 million people, with more than 21 million in its greater metropolitan area.
“I use condoms, but the truth is that there is still a lot of machismo in Mexico and men do not want to use a condom,” 23-year-old student Manuela Zepeda said.
“I tell men: if you want [sex], put it on,” she added, while showing the female condom that she had just been given.
Daily HIV infections increased from 33 to 44 per day between 2017 and 2018, National Center for the Prevention and Control of HIV and AIDS data showed.
Lourdes Zamuro, a 63-year-old woman, took two strips.
“These condoms are for my grandchildren,” she said in front of her husband, Adrian Carrera, 65. “Things were different before. We can’t stop them having sex. Better to inform them and help them.”
VENEZUELAN ACTION: Marco Rubio said that previous US interdiction efforts have not stemmed the flow of illicit drugs into the US and that ‘blowing them up’ would US President Donald Trump on Wednesday justified a lethal military strike that his administration said was carried out a day earlier against a Venezuelan gang as a necessary effort by the US to send a message to Latin American cartels. Asked why the military did not instead interdict the vessel and capture those on board, Trump said that the operation would cause drug smugglers to think twice about trying to move drugs into the US. “There was massive amounts of drugs coming into our country to kill a lot of people and everybody fully understands that,” Trump said while hosting Polish President
A French couple kept Louise, a playful black panther, in an apartment in northern France, triggering panic when she was spotted roaming nearby rooftops. The pair were were handed suspended jail sentences on Thursday for illegally keeping a wild animal, despite protesting that they saw Louise as their baby. The ruling follows a September 2019 incident when the months-old feline was seen roaming a rooftop in Armentieres after slipping out of the couple’s window. Authorities captured the panther by sedating her with anesthetic darts after she entered a home. No injuries were reported during the animal’s time on the loose. The court in the
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
For more than a century, the fate of the dazzling Darya-e-Noor diamond has been sealed inside a bank vault — a mystery that haunts Khawaja Naim Murad, great-grandson of the last prince, or nawab, of Dhaka. Locked away in 1908, were the family’s heirlooms lost during the violence at the end of British rule in 1947? Did they survive Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971 and the string of coups that followed, or are they still safe, dusty, but untouched? Many suspect that the jewels are long gone and officials at the state-run bank hesitate to simply open the vault, fearing that they
RSS