Following a devastating cyclone in early May, the southeast Asian nation of Myanmar urgently needs more condoms to reduce the risk of increased HIV/AIDS transmission, says the United Nations Population Fund in a report published in the Folsom, California-based newspaper the News Blaze reports (newsblaze.com, 5/23).
According to the article, the UNFPA is continuing to send Myanmar health packages that include condoms, contraceptive pills and razors for cutting umbilical cords. Since the cyclone hit, the UNFPA has shipped more than 72,000 condoms to Myanmar, but it plans to triple this number in the near future.
Says one UN worker in the story, “We don’t want regular use of contraception disrupted. An emergency usually damages the health system, so people don’t have access to condoms and contraceptives.”
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Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
