Cheap condoms in Europe to lower STDs, HIV

Although HIV and sexual transmitted diseases remain a great risk in their line of work, nearly 1 in 5 prostitutes do not use condoms, Dutch researchers say.

The Dutch Safe4now Foundation has begun a new European campaign to distribute cheap condoms for the sex industry to encourage prostitutes to work more safely.

Foundation officials said they hope increased use of condoms in the sex industry will reduce the spread of the HIV virus and venereal diseases.

A study by The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in Amsterdam reveals 7 percent of the prostitutes in large cities such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam are infected by HIV. Eighty-two percent of them use condoms on a regular basis, sometimes engaging in unprotected intercourse that exposes their clients to the risk of HIV and STD. Among addicted prostitutes, only 40 percent say they always uses a condom.

"Although condoms are almost a primary necessity of life for them, they have to pay the same high price as private consumers," Bianca Boef of Safe4now said in a statement. "If they are obliged to order them through their bosses, they even have to pay more."