Chinese Men Buy Just Three Condoms a Year as AIDS Threat Lingers

Chinese state media reported Monday that Chinese men buy roughly three condoms a year, and those are highly likely to be defective. Annual condom sales, according to China Youth Daily, are 2 billion a year. The male population is around 650 million. The paper noted that 30-44 percent of all condoms for sale in China fail to meet industry standards. Condom use remains low despite China's restrictive birth control policies. Official figures estimate 1 million Chinese are infected with HIV, and state media recently reported that the number of AIDS patients would double to 200,000 in five years. The UN has said the number of HIV-infected people in China is closer to 1.5 million and could reach more than 10 million by the end of the decade.

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