Thursday, September 18, 2008

For short-term planning ahead


There are condom dispensers like these affixed to walls, fences and gates around our neighbourhood, although they're notably absent from trendier, touristy areas downtown, around Xintiandi and in the French Concession. To be honest I'm impressed they're there at all, in a country where HIV was for almost 20 years considered solely the domain of foreigners (and men who have sex with men, which at the time was also thought an "abnormal" Western import) and where HIV was called aizibing--the "loving capitalism disease." A lot has changed since then, and China finally seems to be tackling HIV/AIDS in a concerted manner--the government went as far as promoting prevention among sex workers, which Party members previously feared would further encourage the country's burgeoning sex trade. That said, migrant workers remain an unaddressed risk factor given their statistically higher chances of contracting HIV and their lack of access to health care. Crap. 

What I'd really like to know, though, given their prominent streetside placement, is what these little boxes' pickup rate is.

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