Carnival: Brazil Handing Out 55 Million Condoms

RIO DE JANERIO — Brazilian health officials have kicked off an AIDS awareness campaign and will hand out 55 million condoms during the annual Carnival festival that begins next week.

A new television ad features a talking condom that loudly reminds young people to take him along when they go out to party.

Health Minister Jose Temporao said Saturday that this year's campaign is focusing on educating young women and young gay men to use protection.

The slogan is: "The condom. For love, passion or just sex. Always use it."

Last year the government distributed nearly 500 million free condoms throughout Brazil, or an average 2.6 condoms for every citizen.

The government hasn't said how many will be handed out this year.

Comments

[KriTiKiT]

12:12 AM on 02/08/2010

good!

[sonoffestus]

11:27 PM on 02/07/2010

That's a whole lot of something going on!

[chaimschwartz]

11:02 PM on 02/07/2010

After that Super Bowl win..and with Mardi Gras only 9 days away...New Orleans could use as many...!!

[runner 08]

10:24 PM on 02/07/2010

Good for Brazil... they should also add a note to that about Herpes: because of the way the herpes virus sheds, condoms do not dependably prevent transmission of herpes.

[Tulka2]

09:52 PM on 02/07/2010

This is what smart public policy looks like. Behold.

[smearjay]

09:32 PM on 02/07/2010

I saw a video of this a few years ago. Trust me, these condoms are not for birth control....

[megacephalus]

05:46 PM on 02/07/2010

Over-population in Haiti has led to environmental degradation, clearing of trees over-all for fuel, followed by loss of top-soil, etc.
The principal malevolent actor in Haiti has been forever the Roman Catholic Church, which says 'go out and breed some more'! Since the mid 1980's the RC's have effectively blocked the sale as well as free distribution of Condoms [as well as any efforts at teaching birth control - aka 'family planning' publicly]... so it happens only through the ZS and KS clinics and their staffs.
The result of the RC's policies has been negative two-fold:

1.) rampant over-population
2.) rampant AIDS/HIV infestation

Three cheers for the enlightened Brazilians, maybe they can take up a collection and smuggle them past the 'christians' into Haiti!

Read:

Tracy Kidder: 'Mountains Beyond Mountains' [mid 1990's]
Graham Greene: 'The Comedians' [mid 1960's]

'le plus ce change, le plus ce reste la meme'

signed: Malthus

[vquest]

04:56 PM on 02/07/2010

When I go there on vacation I never bring less than 40. Optimism rather than past successes motivate this action...Still, one never wants to get caught short.

[mazzetta]

04:36 PM on 02/07/2010

Ratzy will jump on his chair

[Chopin]

03:00 PM on 02/07/2010

Bra zilians, most enlightened country and people. You really earned your future Olympics.

[argentino]

03:38 PM on 02/07/2010

Yes, and I really appreciate what they've contributed to women's grooming...

[runner 08]

10:28 PM on 02/07/2010

Enlightenment isn't just about handing out free rubbers, sparky.

"Slavery may seem like a quaint notion in a 21st century world, but that distinction is lost on up to 40,000 Brazilians who find themselves toiling for no real wages and can't leave the distant work camps where they live."
The Brazilian prison system is considered insolvent for a long time. Prisons are overcrowded and unhealthy, and prison rape is not uncommon. There are over 400,000 inmates in the system. Beatings, torture and killings by prison guards occur throughout the system. Children are abused in the juvenile justice system.

Torture in Brazil is widespread and systematic according to the ex-UN Special Rapporteur. Occurrence of police torture accompanies murder or effecting intimidation and extortion. Torture has also been widely reported in detention centers and mental institutions.

Police violence is one of the most internationally recognized human rights abuses in Brazil.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Brazil

[Chopin]

11:39 AM on 02/08/2010

Giving out free condoms to limit spread of disease in that situation of Mardi Gras is a rational and enlightened act.

Now, you launch into a general indictment of a whole society, you should at least provide ample source links and context. Otherwise, you're opening up a wide ranging discussion that cannot possibly be done in a few hundred words, in the confines of the comment policies. You brought topics on slavery, child prostitution, sweat shops, police brutality, torture, juvenile justice, . . . You're going into discussion of comparative ethics and morality that cannot be properly checked and aired in 250word comments on Huffpost.

[argentino]

01:28 PM on 02/07/2010

55,000,000 condoms!

Is Tiger Woods in town?

[chaimschwartz]

11:03 PM on 02/07/2010

I bet this angers the Pope and Focus on the Family!! Good...Condoms all around!!

[owlbreath]

07:21 AM on 02/08/2010

I thought the reports said he had unprotected sex.

[davidwayneosedach]

01:16 PM on 02/07/2010

Don't you wish you could be there?

[GCurry]

01:08 PM on 02/07/2010

Sounds like a party!

[hippie4ever]

12:52 PM on 02/07/2010

Meanwhile the Vatican is freaking out at the loss of 55 million Catholics...

[argentino]

01:57 PM on 02/07/2010

Time to put down the Ganja my brother - the 60's are long gone...

[hooktender]

02:31 PM on 02/07/2010

But the populatioin explosion is still with us, worse than ever.

[Sam Smith]

03:44 PM on 02/07/2010

Yeah, the 60's are long gone, but the ganja isn't. Where you stay homey? There is way more weed and weed smokers than forty years ago. Time for you to get a life.

[Usama]

12:35 PM on 02/07/2010

The rumors that HP is run by unpaid interns seems to include horny, liberal interns. 50 million condoms and no mention of the illegal sex trafficking and 500,000 child prostitutes in Brazil? So mature and responsible of HP. Ive tried for 2 days to comment that Brazil has one of the worst child prostitution syndicates in the world and Carnival is the top draw for sex tourists from around the world.

Im so glad that HP reported that there wont be a shortage of condoms for all those kids sold for sex in Brazil.

[Sobeton]

01:05 PM on 02/07/2010

so the Brazilian government should cancel Carnival? I'm sure the government is not promoting child prostitution, and does the best it can to prevent it.

should HP include child prostitution information whenever it writes stories about Thailand, Indonesia, etc. that also have big child prostitution rings?

I'm not sure I understand the point of your complaint.

[isaidit]

02:53 PM on 02/07/2010

By what you think passes as logic, every news story would be encyclopedic in scope because if one has a mind to, everything topic could be related and go on and on making connections. Since that is highly impractical, you will find articles that limit the scope of their particular 'story'. Ergo, there is no mention of the sex trafficking you are concerened about because this was not a piece about sex trafficking. It was about the distribution of free condoms to reduce the aids risk.

[Chopin]

10:51 AM on 02/08/2010

Very rational and logical response.