A 30-foot-high condom billboard with the message ‘Just Use It’ has been installed in Aizawl to raise HIV awareness ahead of International Condom Day on Feb 13, marking a first-of-its-kind prevention campaign in the city. The ‘blink-a-100-times-but-you-cannot-miss-it’ message is the initiative of Aids Healthcare Foundation (AHF)-India Cares
Youngsters interact over coffee and condom talk
A 30-foot-high and six-foot-wide vertical billboard featuring a condom with the catchline ‘Just Use It’ has been installed on the wall of a prominent mall in Aizawl, capital of Mizoram, in the run-up to International Condom Day (ICD), which falls on February 13, annually. The ‘blink-a-100-times-but-you-cannot-miss-it’ message is the initiative of Aids Healthcare Foundation (AHF)-India Cares, partnering with Mizoram State Aids Control Society (MSACS).
Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil, globally renowned HIV activist and Goodwill Ambassador of AHF India Cares, said, “This is the first explicit vertical billboard in Aizawl displaying a colourful condom, where 95 per cent of the population belong to various Christian church denominations and often are uncomfortable with explicit prevention campaigns. I am sure we are turning heads with this billboard.
The huge billboard put up at a strategic location. PICS/BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Over the years, the support from church-based youth organisations for HIV prevention has picked up, and the state will hopefully witness the reduction of new [HIV] infections.” Dr V Sam Prasad, AHF India Cares country programme director, said, “Most heartening is the collaboration extended by MSACS and the health minister of Mizoram — Lalrinpuii.”
Dr Prasad and Prince Gohil added about events in the ICD run-up, “We had a ‘Spot Cafe’ event where youngsters interacted over coffee. There were HIV testing, counsellors, and Free Love condoms at the cafe. We were struck, in fact, by just how sensitised the younger crowd was.”
One of the other events coming up is a fashion show where designers have to craft fashion accessories out of coloured condoms. “Mizoram is big into music, football, and fashion. Now, designers will repurpose fashion to send out a message: no condemnation, only ‘condom-nation’,” concluded the activists.
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