Archive of "Fear of Aids pushes up condom sales", The Straits Times, 19 April 1987

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Fear of Aids pushes up condom sales

By KONG SOOK CHIN

SOME condom distributors here attribute a dramatic in crease in sales of their products to the fear of the deadly Aids disease.

“Contraception can only account for a small part of the! growth in sales.'* said the spokesman for a company which is the sole agent for a leading Japanese brand of condom. “It s the fear of Aids I that is the real booster ‘

He said sales of condoms at I supermarkets, pharmacies. Chinese medical halls and street-comer stalls he supplied had doubled since Aids cases were first identified here in[ 1985.

Singapore reported its first I death from Aids early this! month

His company also sold to Malaysia and Brunei, where sales were similar!) buoyant, mainly because people there w*ere worried about pi< King up Aids or othet infections he said.

Others involved tn selling |contraceptives sa> that the condom is a continual good I seller A distributor and retailer of la brand of condom that con tains a sperm-killing agent say sales of thai produ< * took |off in the past few months The compan) which is th» I sole agent for a British brand of condom with spermicide said its overall sales were up and that demand was partu u* iarlv strong f**t tne sperrr.it id-m

“It s moving so fast we hav» run out of stocks ikit we hav» placed or tiers for mice the i ompany s|»oKesrr.ar said .ast week

She said buyers weie a» traded b> the extia pivcau lion aftunled b> the sperm •- • ide The transmission *»f Aids has been linked tn!e fluids including sj*etn A spokesman for iluardiari Pharma ies said recently that sales of. on<tom" a* it* ret.n, • •utlets were good and hat condom with spermkwie among the fastest seller*- wit* sales up by 50 per < ent When fhe Aids virus was first identified here Guardian de* itied to increase its . ondon stt* kv by 2T pet ent More transsexual prostitutes taking precautions MOKE transsexual prostitute -but not all of them — are taking measures to protect themselves against Aids, a study here has shown A government doctor who is conducting a study of 100 transsexuals said the male prostitute's had become aware of the dangers of con trading the deadly disease after being told by doctors at the Middle Road Hospital Dr K V Ratnam. a senior registrar of the hospital said iast wi»ek that many of them were now insisting that their clients, who are men, use condoms They have been told to avoid exchanging semen or blood. whi< h have been associated with the at quired immune deficiency syr drome

Some are doing this However. Dr Ratnam noted, a few had resisted it. because of what he term I'd their “fatalistic attitud*

“They felt that since deaih was inevitable they were prtqiared to get Aids and were not prejian^l to adopt any precautionary mea sures.’*

Others had the misconception that their risk of contracting Aid" was negligible since they were go ing to the hospital for regulat check-ups Dr Ratnam said this belief stemmed from the false notion that Aids was similar to gonorrhoea and syphilis and ould t* cured with antibiotics The prostitutes wer» m*n he rw'een l*t and f»5 years old when the study hegan in ISM Mote that half had little or no edtr atn*n Th<*\ wen* seiet ted fron .« h«*pita. register for ’he stud) The finding' of the study Awarem'ss of Aids Among Transsexual Pntstitutes r. Singapore — was published it the I lerembe: I9kk issue >f ?h« Smga pore at Journal Working with them Dr Rat ruin who is in his  cvn!) about half had taken pte* autions against getting Aids ft on clients

But the picture has since »hanged Dt Ratnarr. said Past year, fat mote of the |»ntstitutes said they wete aware of the dts ease and taking measure" t. p*. tect themselves He ls studying another 2t to # ttanssscxua* prostitutes wh< ;tr» vounget. to find out how ‘he*. >r pare with the origma. P*

=See also=
 * HIV/AIDS in Singapore
 * Archive of "Three in S’pore found with Aids-linked virus", The Straits Times, 10 April 1985
 * Archive of "Aids virus: Doctor who 'found it'", The Sunday Times, 14 April 1985
 * Archive of "Special lab to do Aids tests soon", The Straits Times, 18 May 1985
 * Archive of "Man with Aids related virus in hospital", The Straits Times, 21 July 1985
 * Archive of "Screening tests likely to uncover more Aids carriers", The Straits Times, 1 May 1986
 * Archive of "Aids claims first victim here", The Straits Times, 11 April 1987
 * Archive of "Fear of Aids pushes up condom sales", The Straits Times, 19 April 1987
 * Archive of "Govt dental clinics phasing out boiling", The Straits Times, 1 October 1987
 * HIV/AIDS in Singapore's LGBT community
 * Paddy Chew
 * Avin Tan
 * Ajmal Khan
 * Calvin Tan
 * Adrian Tyler

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=Acknowledgements=

This article was written by Roy Tan.