Athletes safe for fun at Games
6/9/2008 10:59
The world's top athletes had a safe time in the Chinese capital with all
80,000 condoms distributed free in the Olympic Village being taken away during
the Beijing Games, a health official said yesterday.
Zhao Tao, a Beijing
Municipal Health Bureau official, said it was normal practice for Olympic host
cities to provide condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS and other sexual
diseases.
He added after the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and the 1988 Seoul
Olympics, disease prevention departments monitored a small surge in AIDS
infections as the Games brought an enormous influx of visitors.
Beijing's
AIDS prevention networks were also closely monitoring whether the city would
experience the same increase. The findings would be available before this year's
World AIDS Day, which falls on December 1.
Zhao said athletes and Olympic
delegations said they were satisfied with Beijing's efforts to curb HIV during
the Games.
To advocate safe sex and AIDS prevention, Beijing's health
bureau also distributed 400,000 free condoms to more than 90,000 rooms at 424
hotels. The bureau distributed 250,000 free pamphlets on AIDS prevention and
control to the hotels. Thousands of Olympic volunteers were also trained to
advocate AIDS prevention during the Games.
The Chinese organizers worked
with the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS and the International Olympic
Committee to distribute information about AIDS, condoms and anti-discrimination
messages to Games participants. In the Olympic Village clinic, the condoms were
available for distribution along with information on HIV prevention and
anti-discrimination in English, French and Chinese.
Xinhua
|
