Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 9/21/2005

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CONTENT:

1 - GABON: Government cuts condom prices by 40 percent to help AIDS fight

1 - GABON: Government cuts condom prices by 40 percent to help AIDS fight

LIBREVILLE, 21 September (PLUSNEWS) - Gabon is slashing the price of male

condoms in government-approved health centres by 40 percent in a bid to help

prevent new HIV infections, health officials in the Central African country

said.

Malonga, the director of Gabon's National Programme To Fight AIDS

(PNLS), said that people would not have to pay more than 15 CFA (around 3 US

cents) for a condom purchased at one of the centres, compared with the old price

of 25 CFA.

" It's a price that beats all the competition, because what's important to us,

first and foremost, is health, " Malonga told IRIN.

Sheaths sold by street vendors can cost as much as 125 CFA, while pharmacies

sell packs that can work out at about 1,000 CFA per condom, depending on the

brand.

Gabon's official HIV prevalence rate stands at 8.1 percent, although the figure

has been extrapolated from only four of the country's nine regions.

Authorities in Gabon have been stepping up the fight against HIV/AIDS this year.

At the end of April, the government agreed to provide free testing and

life-prolonging antiretroviral drugs to students and vulnerable populations.

Health officials, alarmed by data showing that almost half of 15 to 19-year-old

males had had their first sexual experience at the age of 15, have been

targeting teenagers and students in particular.

And Malonga of the PNLS said the cut-price condoms were part of that campaign.

The government-approved health centres sell around 120,000 condoms each month in

Libreville and other big cities nationwide.

" Lots of young people have sex without protection and that's a time-bomb for

us, " Malonga said. " We need to reinforce prevention messages so that our young

people change their behaviour. "

Female condoms, which retail at 100 CFA (20 US cents), are not affected by this

month's price cuts.

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