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The Ministry of Health has just tendered a curious contest - more for its quantity than for the product purchased - with which it intends to buy 1,000,000 units of condoms and 500,000 doses of sexual lubricant in order to promote sex safely inside of the strategic plan of Sexual and Reproductive Health of the Valencian Community .

For the acquisition of this material, the department of Ana Barceló has estimated an approximate value of 227,600 euros, with a real amount of 137,698 euros , which aims to cover two years, 2020 and 2021.

The tender document states that condoms and packages of “vaginal, anal or oral” sexual lubricant - as detailed in the technical characteristics - must be used for “the promotion and normalization of the use of condoms as a universal measure of protection against HIV (AIDS) and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the entire population, as well as to prevent unplanned pregnancies among the adolescent and young population ».

The use of prophylactics for preventive activities of sexually transmitted diseases "in populations of high vulnerability to sexual health" is also added. In the conditions of the product it is specified that the million condoms must be 100% «natural rubber latex, without spermicide, without aromas, with deposit and served in individual packages. Therefore, 500,000 cartridges must be supplied ».

Although the most striking of the contest for the promotion of safe sex in the Valencian Community is the acquisition of 500,000 doses of sexual lubricant. A transparent gel that will be distributed in single-dose sachets, made on a water basis, "without dye, without aromas (neutral taste and smell) and neutral ph ". It must also be free of "parabens, phenoxyethanol, paraffins, aldehydes and allogens."

The purchase of this sexual material is ahead of the claim that was advanced, last June, from the Ministry of Health on the possibility that condoms were free.

The secretary of the National Plan on AIDS, Julia del Amo , explained at the time that from the Ministry "the possibility of addressing the free condom is being considered because it is key to introduce it as a general approach to addressing sexually transmitted infections" .

Del Amo said that it was a proposal that "is currently very immature" unlike pre-exposure prophylaxis against HIV (PreEP) whose funding has long been debated in the Public Health Commission. The secretary indicated that it is being approached from the department headed by María Luisa Carcedo and that the financing model is "something that is under discussion."

Finally, Del Amo clarified that although there is a "determined disposition" on the part of the Ministry , the implementation of this drug is autonomous competence and it is the communities "that have to be convinced and many are". "All communities have voice and vote and ability to decide, it has to come with more consensus and more time and I am optimistic," concluded Del Amo.

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  • Health
  • Health
  • Science and Health
  • Valencian Community
  • Valencia
  • Alicante
  • Castellón

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