PPSNE Partners with Condom Nation to Distribute 25,000 Free Condoms

(Providence, RI)  On Wednesday, June 6, 2012 Planned Parenthood of Southern New England will hand out 25,000 free condoms. AIDS Healthcare Foundation's (AHF) Condom Nation tour will stop from 1 – 7 p.m. at City Hall Park on Washington Street, Providence, Rhode Island. Each participating organization will receive 25,000 condoms from AHF to distribute to the public in one day. Other participating organizations include AIDS Care Ocean State, AIDS Project Rhode Island, Youth Pride, Inc., The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health, and Sojourner House.

“Planned Parenthood welcomes AHF and their donation of free condoms to Providence,” stated Judy Tabar President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England. “It is an unfortunate reality that the price per condom has become so expensive that many people are opting to not use them at all. Preventing HIV and other sexually transmitted infections is our ultimate goal.”

Currently, there are approximately 48,000 new HIV infections and 19 million new sexually transmitted infections (STIs) every year in the United States. According to AIDS Project Rhode Island, (1) the number of people living with HIV in Rhode Island is increasing; (2) the number of new HIV cases diagnosed a year is unchanging; and (3) there is an increasing number of gay and bisexual men who are being diagnosed with HIV.

Planned Parenthood of Southern New England provides confidential, caring and quality health services to all community members. We provide affordable, lifesaving cancer screenings; testing and treatment for STIs, including HIV tests; and birth control. Every year, Planned Parenthood affiliates provide family planning counseling and contraception to 2.2 million patients.

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Planned Parenthood of Southern New England is one of the region's largest providers of family planning and reproductive health care services, with 19 health centers in Connecticut and Rhode Island, delivering care to nearly 70,000 patients annually, and 90 percent of the services provided are preventive. For 95 years, Planned Parenthood Federation of America has provided health care and family planning services to women and men across the country. One in five American women has received care from a Planned Parenthood health center during her lifetime, and last year three million patients came to one of our more than 800 health centers.