 "Photo: Shutterstock")
Simran Shaikh knows what she is talking about.
At 14, Shaikh, a transgender, fled home and took to prostitution. Thanks to unsafe sex, she fell prey to a sexually transmitted disease.
Now the president of Impulse India, a global branch of the international safer sex coalition and community platform created by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), Shaikh seeks to spread awareness - and condoms - in its bid to promote safe sex.
As part of AHF, she has been advocating safe sex through several campaigns, the most recent one being the opening of a condom bank that supplies free condoms online.
Shaikh says lack of awareness about safe sex among LGBTQ community increases the risks of them developing sexually transmitted diseases.
"Youngsters who are working as sex workers are more at risk because they lack counselling," she says.
Shaikh said that there had been a drastic cut in the supply of free condoms by the government in the past few years, making the condom bank a necessity for the community.
"Initially, the government of India played an active role in supplying free condoms to sex workers. But with time, the free supply has reduced. The initiative taken by AHF will help fill up that gap," she says.
Teri Ford, Chief of Global Advocacy and Policy for AHF, says in the absence of availability of sufficient numbers of free condoms, the situation for sex workers is becoming "vexatious".
"Organisations like UNAIDS, USAID and the Global Fund are drastically cutting funding and the distribution of free condoms. We see this as an emergency," says Ford.
According to her, using a condom is the best preventive measure against STDs, and to make their condom bank successful, AHF will be offering a doorstep delivery of condoms free of cost for individuals who contact them.
"There is a toll free number as well as an e-mail address on our website. If someone gives us information we will be shipping condoms to their doorsteps completely free of cost. It is basically an emergency supply of the product," says Ford.
The initiative is also an attempt to shun taboos associated with the topic of sex, which makes it difficult for people to ask for a condom publicly.
"The whole point is to educate people to stay healthy," she says.
When asked how their initiative is going to benefit people who don't have access to the internet, especially in village areas, Ford says they are getting on board NGOs operating in such areas to expand the reach of the programme.
"The store will be accessible to NGOs to help people who are in need of condoms but are unable to get access. We are going to fill that gap," she says.
