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Eleven
Million Condoms
Brazil is one of the Latin American countries hardest hit by the
AIDS epidemic and will hand out a record 11 million condoms to
prevent the spread of the disease during its erotically charged
Carnival festival when casual sex rises.
The
"Dress Yourself" campaign is to remind revelers a condom should
be part of their outfit, no matter how little they wear to parades
and parties renowned for semi-nude, hip-thrusting dancers. Millions
of Brazilians and foreigners flock to cities such as Rio de Janeiro,
Salvador and Recife for the Feb. 4 to Feb. 9 festival.
Crammed
streets and close contact in tropical heat intensifies sexual
relations, health authorities said. The safe-sex campaign hits
Brazilian television screens next week showing grinning celebrities
waving condoms as they dance to popular Carnival samba tune, "What
will you wear?" Brazil's AIDS program uses free distribution of
condoms and a cocktail of free drugs to prevent the spread of
the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, which causes the disease.
Brazil,
a country of 180 million people, uses around 1.2 billion condoms
a year. The government wants to boost that number to 3 billion
by 2008 through free distribution and manufacture of cheaper domestic
products.
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