Campus condom vending machines 'show demand'
CNA
December 18, 2013, 12:08 am TWN
TAIPEI--Two hundred boxes of condoms have been sold since condom vending machines were installed on the campuses of five universities in Taichung 10 days ago, which city officials described as a sign that demand existed.
The city's Health Bureau disclosed the initial sales results during a press conference Tuesday, at which Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-kun formally announced the launch of the city's initiative to promote safe sex and prevent the spread of AIDS by selling condoms through vending machines on campuses.
The machines have already been installed at five Taichung universities — Hungkuang University, China Medical University, National Chung Hsing University, Chaoyang University of Technology and National Taichung University of Education — with promising results, according to a city health official.
The number of condoms sold through the vending machines — 200 boxes of two condoms each — in the past 10 days indicates that “students do have a demand,” the official said.
According to Centers for Disease Control statistics, there were more than 20,000 AIDS patients in Taiwan as of November, 72.6 percent of whom got the disease through unprotected sex.
