Coy about whispering condom to chemist, get at paan shop

BHOPAL: The flushed look on your face while standing before a chemist to buy a condom or the numerous failed attempts to pick up a packet at the general store are a thing of the past.
Now, you can buy condoms at your nearest pan shop, puncture repair shops and small kiosks.
Interestingly, women too can get condoms from shops selling women's items such as bangle shops, garments shop, parlours and shops run by women.
This new social marketing concept by Madhya Pradesh State Aids control Society (MPSACS) aims at taking precautions that include averting unwanted pregnancies, preventing sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS.
"The concept especially aims at encouraging youngsters to use condoms who feel awkward buying them as it is condoms is a public declaration that you want sex and they are still comfortable with that
. Society still has to come to terms with the fact that 'condoms' are not a problem but a solution. Meanwhile, parents are still hesitant to have the birds and bees talk with their children and consequently youngsters feel embarrassed while buying a condom," said a National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) officer
To rectify the situation, condoms are now being made easily available, he added
Madhya Pradesh has also seen a drastic improvement in the number of people getting tested for HIV. This year this figure has gone up to 6,00,000 from a mere 16,000 in 2013.
Also, the prevalence rate of HIV-affected in the state has dropped from 0.11 % to 0.09% and the prevalence rate among pregnant women has reduced from 0.32% to 0.14%, as per NACO.