NYC Teens Fight for Condoms in School

By Sharanya Durvasula, 17, Staff Writer

Originally Published: Jul 6, 2007

Revised: Jul 6, 2007

Does your high school provide free condoms? New York City public high schools do. Or so they claim.

In 1991, the New York City Board of Education approved an HIV/AIDS education program that includes making condoms available in high schools. But according to the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP), high school students report that a majority of New York City public high schools don’t supply condoms.

Teens Get Involved

CHAMP advocates for HIV/AIDS prevention by creating campaigns or projects for people to get involved in. One of these campaigns, the Find the Condoms in Your School Campaign, is youth based. It invites New York City high school students to “demand that the city keep its promises to youth.” Teens participate in youth-activist training, attend meetings and visit high schools and other teen hot spots to pass out “Know Your Rights” cards and condoms.

Adapted from victoriapeckham

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Eighteen-year-old Kruti Sheth, of New York City, got involved in the Find the Condoms in Your School Campaign because of her interest in HIV/AIDS prevention.

“This summer, I attended a summer institute for a women’s leadership organization. As a supplement to this summer program, during the school year we had to complete a community action placement project. I chose to do mine with CHAMP because I have always been interested in AIDS and HIV prevention advocacy."

Half of all new HIV infections worldwide occur in people under 25. That's a big number! It means that anyone under 25 who is sexually active could very easily contract HIV if they don't use protection. I ask Kruti if she’s involved for personal reasons, and she says, “I personally do not know anyone that is HIV positive, however, that doesn’t really matter since everyone around me has the possibility of contracting the disease. I feel that it is my duty, as someone who knows about the virus, to advocate for making condoms available.”

Power of a Condom

Even if you or your friends are not having sex, you probably will someday. So having information about protecting yourself is important.

“Condoms are the best protection against HIV transmission among the sexually active. Students who can’t afford condoms will keep having unprotected sex, which just leads to the growth of not only the AIDS epidemic, but also other sexually transmitted diseases, and teen pregnancies,” Kruti says.

An Activist in Spite of Parents’ Disapproval

I asked Kruti if her family supports her work with the Find the Condoms Campaign. “Honestly, my family does not know much about this campaign, but they would not be too enthused about it because they are Indian and extremely conservative,” she explains.

I can understand her difficulty. My parents weren’t crazy about the fact that I was going to be advocating for comprehensive sex ed as a Sex, Etc. teen editor, especially since they believe that teens are too young to have sex.

Kruti adds, “I doubt that [my parents] would understand that schools need to provide condoms, because they believe that adolescents should only practice abstinence. This is ironic, because my home country, India, has one of the largest HIV/AIDS populations and it’s still increasing.”

Unfortunately, a lot of teens can’t openly and comfortably communicate about sexuality with their parents. So it’s great that New York City has a program to provide free condoms in all high schools. But by not keeping its promise, the city is failing future generations.

“It is a shame that [some] schools fail to provide [condoms] because they can save people’s lives,” Kruti adds.

Thanks to people like Kruti, more sexually active teens in New York City may have access to free condoms.

Can you buy condoms in your state? Check out "Sex in the States" to find out.

Do you live in New York City and want more information about the "Find the Condoms in Your School Campaign"? Or do you live elsewhere and want to help teens in your community support access to free or low-cost condoms? Contact Sebastian Colón-Otero, CHAMP’s Community Organizer, at scolon@champnetwork.org or call (212) 937-7955, ext. 70, to get involved.

Your Comments

Can Youth Keep on using Condoms: Response

Posted by: StacieS on Jul 10th, 2007 2:24pm

Thanks for the comment, Godwin. Here are some important
facts about condoms to add to your comment: 1. condoms are
98% effective, 2. condoms protect excellent protection
against HIV, other STDs and pregnancy, 3. people must use a
new condom each time they have sex. You can find lots more
information about condoms here:
www.sexetc.org/faq/birth_control

Can Youth Keep on using Condoms.

Posted by: saramygoaltv on Jul 8th, 2007 9:03am

i am Godwin From Ghana and i think if teens are using
condoms for sex how and every day, one may asked for how
long can they use the condoms and if they do not feel what
they call fun or to make them happy in having sex. in Ghana
most yoouth want to feel the real sex than using condoms
every day when having sex. some say it is not 100% save for
the use of the rubber. i wish we can create something more
stronger than a rubber for youth, so they can feel what the
need in sex.