New York City health officials are spending $2 million to provide the city’s five boroughs with 2 million female condoms, the New York Daily News reports (nydailynews.com 6/15).

“I want to make sure there is a female condom in the hands of anyone who wants to use it,” said Monica Sweeney, assistant commissioner of the Health Department’s HIV Prevention and Control Bureau. “We want females to have this as an alternative if they can’t negotiate with their male partner to use a male condom.”

The city distributed 37 million male condoms last year, and the demand for female condoms is rising, the Daily News reports. The city circulated 659,000 female condoms in 2007, up 200,000 from 2006, according to the Health Department.

“Many women did not know it was an option—and many women could not afford to purchase them—so we decided to make them available,” she said.

For a free female condom New York City residents may call 311.