Indonesia Launches Condom Campaign In The Midst Of HIV Crisis

In the first ever national event intended towith great stigma. The leaders of the movement
promote condom use, Indonesia is attempting tosay that they don't want to force the Muslim
make it plain that condoms should always be used.leaders to promote condoms themselves and
In an attempt to curb unwanted pregnancies andendorse their use - but they do want to give the
sexually transmitted diseases, Jarkata and othermedical arguments for condom use to these
communities in Indonesia are participating in aleaders, in hopes that they will understand for
condom campaign.themselves how important condoms are in this
National Condom Week will coincide withnation. There is also a belief that the safe sex
December 1st, which is World AIDS Day. Theeducation itself is going to help curb the spread of
National Family Planning Board is overseeing theHIV. This comes after a the World Health
condom week, which is a groundbreaking eventOrganization announced in February that Indonesia
for Indonesia. It will involve the distribution ofhad one of the fastest growing populations with
condoms, the education of condom use,HIV in the entire world.
information about how to have sex safely, andBy having Condom Week, the National Family
other events which are all aimed at trying to getPlanning Board is hoping that more Indonesians will
rid of the stigma of condom use in Indonesia.become educated about what exactly safe sex
The problem with condoms in Indonesia is thatmeans, and what danger is truly posed by the
thus far they have only been promoted as familyspread of HIV and AIDS. There is a lot of
planning tools. The social environment in Indonesiaknowledge that is not correct which many people
has been unsupportive of the use of condoms,learn from each other and even from doctor
and there is a great amount of ignorance as tofigures. Helping educate the population about these
the other things that condoms can do. Along withdiseases and prevent them is a tremendous
a general low awareness of safe sex and howmilestone for this country. They are hoping that
important it is, these factors have led to condomsfrom the events that will be nation-wide during
only being used by one percent of those peoplethat week, more people will learn the truth about
who want to prevent pregnancy. Their use forthese diseases, and how easy they would be to
other reasons, such as stopping HIV and AIDScontrol if safe sex practices were better adopted
and other diseases is almost nonexistent.and more widely used. It is the hope of this board
The event is going to be aimed at makingand the other people who are in support of the
condoms more popular, and at giving the peopleCondom Week that more people will recognize
their own tools to protect against gettingcondoms as being helpful and will hopefully begin
pregnant and getting diseases. In the world's mostto use them more.
populous nation that is Muslim, this had been met