A coalition of labor unions is criticizing CVS pharmacies for locking up condoms in some of its stores. The group, Change to Win, says that putting the rubbers behind glass means that young people will be less likely to ask for them, while CVS counters that the locked case means less people will steal the condoms. They also charge that CVS locks up condoms more often in communities of color.

“We do know from studies that free access to condoms cuts down on sexually transmitted infections,” said Neerav Desai, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. “For someone that has any hesitation about use, this could be another reason for them not to use condoms.”

CVS says that the practice is done solely to deter shoplifting and that stores where the condoms are locked up also have some available in the open.

With my background in retail and loss prevention in stores in poor neighborhoods, my knee-jerk reaction is, “CVS isn’t out to give away condoms or make it easy to shoplift from their stores. It’s a business. Big deal. Free condoms are for the health clinics and bars to distribute.” I decided to do a small experiment to see how local CVS pharmacies handled the problem since I live in a neighborhood with large amounts of people of color. Here’s what I found:

Within 10 blocks of my house in Indianapolis, there are two CVS’s and a Kroger with a pharmacy. I went to all three to check out the condom status. I talked to employees in all three locations to check out how their store policies worked and how the policy seemed to impact condom sales and shoplifting.

CVS Location #1

The condoms weren’t locked up and were readily available on the shelves.

I spoke with the pharmacist who told me she assumed that they would be put under lock and key soon because they were one of the highest theft items in the store. The rubbers are located within eyesight of the pharmacy counter, but that section isn’t open 24 hours. According to her, young people of color are the usual shoplifters of condoms, but are also the group most likely to be caught attempting to shoplift other items too.

CVS Location #2

The condoms were locked behind a case on the shelves. Pregnancy tests, lubricants, and other sexual health items were also behind glass.

I went to the pharmacy and said, “I’d like to buy some condoms.” The pharmacist, an older gentleman, was very professional and led me to the shelf, unlocked the case and said, “Grab the ones you want.” I picked out the cheapest box there (Lifestyles X2 – “Lubricated Inside + Out To Intensify Sensitivity and Sensation!) and paid for it while chatting up the pharmacist.

When I asked why the condoms were locked up, he told me it was a recent step by the store to prevent shoplifting. As with the other CVS, he said condoms were one of the most commonly stolen items before being put behind a case. Since they’d been locked up, the problem had been solved. He suggested that perhaps the thieves were going to the nearby Kroger to loot the condom selection. Again, young people were the usual suspects, but not just young people of color. Instead, he thought it was about a 50/50 mix of Caucasian vs Latino/black youths.

When I asked how many people were buying condoms now, his answer shocked me. He told me I was the first person to ask to buy condoms since they went under lock and key. He was very concerned about young people being afraid to ask for condoms and other sexual health items. After I pointed out how the company had been losing money on the shoplifted items, he agreed that it was a problem but didn’t think the current store policy was the best solution. He didn’t have one of his own, however.

Kroger Pharmacy

The Kroger we shop at is in the same shopping center as the second CVS location. The condoms are kept behind glass under the pharmacy counter (not behind the counter – the case faces out to the public at floor level). I spoke with a pharmacy tech that I know from shopping at the store and he was particularly candid.

He told me that while the condoms and lube were kept behind glass, they left the cases unlocked during pharmacy hours. He recognized that they were commonly stolen and admitted that they had watched young people kneel down to the case and pocket condoms without stopping them. He acknowledged that rubbers were a high theft item, but said the store’s general attitude in this situation was that it was better to keep the shelf lightly stocked and lose some packages than to force young people to ask for the items directly.

What’s the Solution?

Obviously this isn’t strictly a CVS issue and I think Change to Win is a little misguided in shaming CVS without offering a workable solution to an industry-wide problem. The chain is in business to make money off health-related items. If its sole concern was preventing diseases and curing ailments, they’d give away all of their medical supplies and medications. It’s not their job to make sure youths can shoplift their inventory with impunity or to ensure that sexually active young people are mature enough to ask for contraceptives without embarrassment.

On the other hand, there is an undeniable issue surrounding getting young people to protect themselves and their partners during sex. Unplanned pregnancies and STDs are a common issue in our local community – especially in poorer (not necessarily communities of color) neighborhoods. With less education and less available spending money, condoms are often the last thing on the list for purchase. Still, there are at least three places within a mile of my house that give away free condoms; they can be found for free easily.

So what’s the solution? It seems that these two conundrums are opposite, but I firmly believe that CVS employees are concerned about access to condoms just as HIV/AIDS activists don’t want CVS to suffer financial loss. While the quoted article says CVS stores also keep some rubbers on the shelves without locking them up (arguably saying it’s okay to shoplift those condoms), I didn’t see any outside of the case in the second CVS location.

Should CVS give away condoms as well as sell them? Would anyone buy them if you can get them for free at the same location? Or should the store strictly concern itself with what concerns its shareholders – the bottom line? I’d love to see your thoughts on the issue.

Highlighting the need for churches to be places of spiritual and physical wellness, UCAN, Inc. (United Church of Christ HIV and AIDS Network) has issued a statement encouraging condom distribution at places of worship.

The statement, presented to the UCC’s Wider Church Ministries joint board meeting in Cleveland March 19, comes on the heels of a renewed focus on the global HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Earlier in the week, Pope Benedict XVI spoke in Cameroon, Africa, saying that condoms were not effective at preventing the spread of HIV. “You can’t resolve [AIDS] with the distribution of condoms,” he said aboard his plane Tuesday. “On the contrary, it increases the problem.”

UNAIDS reports that three-quarters of all AIDS deaths worldwide in 2007 were in sub-Saharan Africa, where some 22 million people are infected with HIV – accounting for two-thirds of the world’s infections.

The Rev. Michael Schuenemeyer, the UCC’s executive for health and wholeness advocacy, urges a more scientific and compassionate approach to the prevention of HIV. “The availability of condoms as part of a comprehensive approach to HIV prevention sends the right message and more importantly, it saves lives,” he said. “The message [UCAN is sending] is rooted in the belief that loving carefully is a moral responsibility. The practice of safer sex behavior is a matter of life and death. People of faith make condoms available because we have chosen life so that we and our children may live.”

UCAN’s complete statement follows:

Human beings are sexual beings and sex is a gift from God, to be shared with love and responsibility. As such, sex, sexuality and sexual behavior are concerns that must be addressed honestly and openly by people of faith. This is an evermore urgent concern because the world is living with a growing HIV epidemic. For those who choose to be sexually active, safer sex is more loving and more responsible – toward oneself and one’s partner – than unprotected sex. There is a significant body of evidence that demonstrates that when condoms are part of a broader, more comprehensive prevention package, they play a key role in reducing HIV infections (UNAIDS, March 19, 2009.)
 
There is no evidence that making condoms available promotes sexual activity. In fact, condoms, when distributed with educational materials and integrated into a broader, more comprehensive prevention package, have been shown to delay sexual debut among those who are not sexually active. Among sexually active youth, HIV prevention education programs have resulted in a reduced number of partners and increased condom use.
 
A comprehensive approach to sexuality education and effective evidence-informed HIV prevention programs include affirming abstinence, monogamy and fidelity. Abstinence is always a viable and commendable choice, no matter the age or sexual experience of the person choosing it. Condom availability does not undermine abstinence, monogamy or fidelity as appropriate faith-based behavioral choices. And, it does not undermine effective HIV or sexually transmitted disease prevention.
 
At the same time, we cannot put our heads in the sand with “abstinence only” approaches. People can and do make other choices, and when they do, we must affirm and provide accurate safer sex information along with access to the means of protection. Making condoms available promotes honesty in sexual relationships and acknowledges the reality that people do have choices about their sexual behavior.
 
Making condoms available at houses of worship and faith-based educational settings provides opportunities to open conversations that can save lives. In this context, condoms become educational tools. Their presence encourages questions and discussions with individuals who are prepared to respond with factual and up-to-date information. Condoms are a sign that people of faith take sexuality seriously as a part of human life and that we endorse all options for preventing HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases.
 
The bottom line is this: safer sexual behavior can be a matter of life and death, so, when people choose to engage in sex we must affirm safer sexual behavior. Thus, it is our moral responsibility to make condoms available because doing so not only sends the right message about loving responsibly, it saves lives.

Further information on the UCC’s HIV and AIDS advocacy can be found at UCAN’s web site: <ucc.org/ucan/>

The United Church of Christ is a denomination of 1.2 million members in 5,600 autonomous local churches that are joined together in Christian mission through local associations, regional conferences and the biennial all-church General Synod.

February is often considered the month of love, flowers, chocolate-covered strawberries, candy – and condoms? 

While teenagers are engaging in activities of love and lust, Planned Parenthood of Indiana is spreading the word of safe-sex practices by recognizing February as Condom Awareness Month.

The organization said it felt the need to designate a month for safe-sex practices because of current sex statistics for young people.

One in every four teenage girls has a sexually transmitted disease, said Kate Shepherd, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Indiana. 

Planned Parenthood spreads condom awareness and has more than 35 health centers statewide that offer condoms for free or for a small fee.

“Condom usage is one of the most effective ways to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and unexpected pregnancies,” said Shepherd, pointing out that other contraceptives, such as birth control pills, do not prevent the spread of diseases.

Communication between the partners is key, said Larisa Niles-Carnes, health educator for Planned Parenthood.  Questions such as, “Were you tested recently?” and “Do you use condoms when you have sex?” are the most important.

“Sometimes people feel like it can be a damper on the sexual mood,” Niles-Carnes said. “But it’s important to know that, because an STD is a damper on the sexual mood too.”

The most likely diseases occur when condoms are not used at all among partners, Niles-Carnes said. This can lead to the spread of bacterial infections, such as chlamydia and gonorrhea.

While these infections are treatable and curable when caught early, viral infections such as human papillomavirus are incurable and can cause genital warts and lead to cervical cancer.

The center recommends individuals in monogamous relationships get tested once a year.  Women can get tested with their gynecologist and men through a simple urine test.  However, testing can be done at the IU Health Center as well.

Niles-Carnes also recommends testing after every partner change or after every six months for those who have more than one partner.

A main concern is the high probability that many people do not know how to properly put on a condom, Niles-Carnes said.

“Not everyone reads the instructions,” she said.  

While Niles-Carnes says the majority of condom breakage is human error, Planned Parenthood offers demonstrational videos on its Web site, www.ppin.org, as well as on its Facebook page and YouTube account, of how to properly put on a condom using life-like wooden models.

“There are no stupid questions when it comes to sexual health,” said Katie Wilkinson, office and outreach coordinator for the Health and Wellness Education Department in the Health Center.  

“We try to provide all of the resources for students here on campus to try to protect themselves, and hope they make the right decisions for themselves,” Wilkinson said.

The Health Center is always available for consultation about how to use condoms, where to get them and how to use the various forms of contraceptives, Wilkinson said.

Students can also take up to four condoms a day from the basket inside the Health Center with no questions asked.

She said members of the clinic would be happy to sit with patrons individually and teach them the proper ways of putting on a condom so that it is used correctly every time.  

The use of expired condoms, not noticing holes, putting them on the wrong way or waiting too long to take the condoms off can harm the effectiveness of the contraceptives, Wilkinson said.  

The center also provides information on lubricants, as some condoms are incompatible with certain lubricants. Programs are also available to residence assistants, dorms, and sororities and fraternities for more comfortable settings with smaller groups to ask more personal questions.

Sherwood said the most common myths of sexually transmitted diseases are found among those who think they have to have multiple partners or that they are immune to getting such diseases.

“Until you are both tested and given a clean bill of health, you don’t know for sure,” Sherwood said.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – People in their 30s and 40s are much less likely than teens to use condoms when having sex with someone for the first time, new research from the UK shows.

While 68 percent of 16- to 19-year-olds said they used protection for the first sexual encounter with a new partner, just 38 percent of men and 29 percent of women aged 35 to 44 reported doing so, Dr. Catherine H. Mercer of University College London and her colleagues found.

“Increasing rates of STIs diagnosed among those in their 30s and 40s suggest that interventions that promote consistent condom use with new partners are urgently required, not just for young people as has been the focus recently, but for people in their 30s and 40s and older who are increasingly forming new partnerships,” Mercer and her team write in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

The researchers surveyed 11,161 men and women 16 to 44 years old. Each person was interviewed face-to-face, and then answered more sensitive questions about sexual issues using a computer-assisted self-interview. Study participants reported the number of sexual partners they’d had, and also gave detailed information on the nature of their last three relationships.

The survey turned up 15,488 heterosexual partnerships reported by 9,598 people. For men, 39 percent of these partnerships were casual (defined as “not (yet) regular”), while 20 percent of women’s were. Overall, 37 percent of men and 29 percent of women said they used a condom the last time they had sex.

When having sex for the first time with a partner, 55 percent of participants used a condom. Couples with an age difference of five years or greater were less likely to use condoms when they had sex the first time. And 23 percent of men said that they’d had sex within 24 hours of meeting their current partner, compared to about 11 percent of women.

The high rate of unprotected sex they identified, especially in casual partnerships is “worrisome,” the researchers say. They conclude: “Condom use with new partners needs to be promoted among all age groups.”

SOURCE: International Journal of Epidemiology, November 2008.

(Monday October 13, 2008 04:24 PM)

The barb came after an incident earlier in the night, where Madonna described the loud screeching of a guitar as “the sound of Sarah Palin thinking”.

The pop star also told US fans last week that Palin was banned from her live concerts, while at the start of the tour she placed an image of McCain alongside photographs of Adolf Hitler and Robert Mugabe