AIDS Drive to Turn Rwandans Onto Condoms

Today in Kigali, Rwanda's government launched its first national campaign to promote condom use. The new program will "promote the correct and constant use of condoms and fight cultural and religious barriers to their use," said Agnes Binagwaho, leader of the National Commission for the Fight Against AIDS. It will target youth, sex workers, prisoners, refugees, and the clergy, who tend to oppose contraception. Three percent of Rwanda's population of 8 million are HIV-infected; the figure is as high as 7 percent in some urban areas. Rwanda will need at least 20 million condoms in 2006, said health officials, who came up with the initiative in response to a study last year that found just 45 percent of Rwandans ages 15-48 reported ever having used a condom.

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