Becky Blab

I know I do.

A cell phone ring tone that sings “Condom, condom!” has been launched to promote safe sex in India, where condoms carry considerable social stigma and HIV and AIDS are growing problems, health experts said on Tuesday.

The a cappella ring tone features a professional singer chanting the word condom more than 50 times, a playful approach that public health activists hope will spark discussion and make condoms more socially acceptable.

“We’ve made a conscious effort to move the concept of the condom away from negative association, like HIV and sex work,” said Yvonne MacPherson, country director of BBC World Service Trust India. “Condoms are actually health products and if you have a condom and you use it, you are seen to be smart and responsible.”

More than 270 million people use mobile phones in India and ring tones, especially those featuring hit Bollywood songs, are extremely popular.

“A ring tone is a very public thing,” she said. “It’s a way to show you are a condom user and you don’t have any issues with it.”

The ring tone was launched on August 8 and has been downloaded 60,000 times, MacPherson said.

Wonder why it only hit the news today if it was launched 11 days ago.

More on the condom front: At the Mexico AIDS conference, Ramadoss (of legalize homosexuality fame) is set to promote the female condom. I’m glad to see this in the news again, as it has been almost a year since I’ve seen anything about it (see here).

National Aids Control Organisation is, therefore, seriously considering a proposal to make these condoms available across the country for just Rs 3. Union health minister A Ramadoss said at the International Aids Conference here that over 87% of the HIV infections in India are caused by unprotected sex.

“Around 38% of all new infections are occurring among women. The pilot phase where we distributed 5 lakh female condoms proved to be a huge success. We now plan to intensify our campaign for female condoms. In 2001, we had 900,000 general condom outlets. By 2010, we will have 3 million,” Ramadoss said.

The BBC has more information on the NACO female condom initiative:

So for the past few months, the women of Mohammadpur have been encouraged to use the female condom.

It is a move that initially raised eyebrows. This is, after all, a conservative part of the country, where women are rarely in control of their lives.

‘Life-changing’

But instead, I find them completely open about discussing the topic with me, an urban male - something that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

“It’s completely changed our lives,” says another of the village women, Sarita.

“We’ve got a sense of freedom, of being liberated. We feel completely in control.”

The women say the female condom gives them a sense of freedom.

Another anti-AIDS initiative is the Red Ribbon Express:

On July 24 a specially designed train with seven cheery yellow coaches chugged in to the Bangalore railway station, carrying in it a motley group of cultural troupes, educational materials and giant models, one of which is of a pregnant mother with an automated voice of a child that regularly reminds her of precautionary measures during the pregnancy. With a salute to life and the inspiring slogan ‘Zindagi Zindabad’ (literally meaning ‘Long Live Life’), the Red Ribbon Express (RRE) started its year-long journey along the length and breadth of India carrying the critical messages associated with HIV/AIDS. That the Indian railways should be made the vehicle of this campaign is apt since it is the one government-run machinery that single-handedly connects and reaches out to the largest numbers in the country.

In partnership with various international, national, state and local organizations, the Indian Railways employed the colourful coaches of the train to convey, through innovative and interactive educational material, information on HIV specifically dealing with primary prevention services and enhancing people’s knowledge about such preventive measures, health habits, lifestyle and safe behavioral practices and developing a more unprejudiced understanding of the virus and consequently removing the associated stigma and discrimination against positive persons and their families.