IOC, Hind Latex join hands to fight AIDS

To install condom vending machines at petrol pumps

Joining hands for a social cause, the oil behemoth Indian Oil Corporation Ltd and the public sector Hindustan Latex Ltd have given shape to a project to install condom vending machines (CVMs) at IOC fuel outlets.

With over 10,150 fuel stations to its credit, IOC boasts of the largest retail outlet network in the country, while Thiruvananthapuram-based Hindustan Latex functions under the administrative control of ministry of health and family welfare and is one of the largest global manufacturers and marketers of contraceptive products such as condoms, IUDs and healthcare products, including blood bags and surgical gloves.

The current tie-up, in other words, translates to Hind Latex and IOC's common goal of fighting AIDS and other sexually-transmitted diseases. With the petrol pumps being the most frequented places for general public, they have been identified as the most appropriate locations for installation of condom vending machines, said B Ashok, deputy general manager and state-level coordinator (Kerala and Lakshadweep).

Moreover, Indian Oil Corporation believes that ``CVMs placed at unconventional, but highly frequented sites, would facilitate all the factors, including the time, privacy, availability and accessibility that would otherwise normally affect the decision of buying a condom from a regular outlet. Petrol outlets are the most frequented sites with maximum floating population of all socio-economic, age and income group in general''. The first CVMs in Kerala have been installed at two petrol pumps in Kochi.

Condom vending machines come in two models "� electronic and mechanical. While the electronic model can vend three varieties of condoms at a time, at a cost of Rs 5, Rs 10 and Rs 15 each for a 5-condom wallet, the mechanical model can vend only one product.

Electronic CVMs, which cost Rs 15,000 a machine, have been installed at several locations and seven more would become operational this week. Meanwhile, the mechanical condom-vending machines come at a cost of Rs 3,500 per machine.

A research commissioned by Hindustan Latex have found that states like Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are the ten high risk states with regard to HIV/AIDS infection.

The current socially helpful tie-up between the country's two of the most respected companies has taken these findings into consideration and has proposed to position CVMs along all the major highways to ensure easy accessibility of condoms to the public at any given time.