The New York City Health Department on Valentine’s Day launched a smart phone application that will help users locate the nearest place in the area giving out free condoms.
Dr. Monica Sweeney, the city’s assistant health commissioner said, “We want New York City to be the safest city in the world to have sex… A lot of people come here for that, so we want them to practice safer sex.” For the past five years, the city has been giving out free condoms at an average of 3 million a month. Dr. Thomas Farley, the health commissioner said, “The NYC Condom Finder is a useful tool to ensure that New Yorkers have access to free condoms wherever they are in the city.”
Users will be able to download the application on the iPhone and Android phones and it can tap into the city’s database of over 1,000 different locations which offer free condoms. It uses GPS technology or an address input to give users directions to the nearest five places in the city that are giving out free condoms.
Retaliating to some who are ready to criticize the move especially parents of younger children who claim the program encourages people to have sex, Sweeney said, “We’re not promoting sex, we’re promoting safer sex… In New York City and around the country, adolescents and pre-adolescents have sex whether you give them condoms or not.”
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