AIDS groupâ€s 70-foot, 18-wheel ‘Condom Nation†big rig and companion Sprinter van continue national condom giveaway tour with a stop in Jersey City, New Jersey where free HIV testing will also be offered by local partner agency, Project LOL Mpowerment Jersey City, Hyacinth AIDS Foundation.

Free condom giveaway. AHFâ€s ‘Condom Nation†18-wheel semi truck continues six-month, 40-city, 25-state free condom tour; advocates to hand out free condoms and offer free HIV testing

Friday, June 1^st 11:00 am to 3:00 pm Journal Square PATH Train Station (Bergen Ave and Sip Ave) Partner agencies: Hyacinth AIDS Foundationâ€s Project LOL Mpowerment Jersey City and Hudson Pride Connections Center

Marco Benjamin, Regional Mobilization Leader NY-NJ-PA

Jessica Reinhart, Grassroots Community Manager, AIDS Healthcare Foundation

Quincy Bell, Program Manager, Project LOL Mpowerment Jersey City, Hyacinth AIDS Foundation

B-Roll 70-foot, 18-wheel ‘Condom Nation†big-rig with condoms and safer sex education

JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY (May 31, 2012) AIDS Healthcare Foundationâ€s (AHF) ‘Condom-Nation†tour—AHFâ€s specially-designed 70-foot long, 18 wheel ‘Condom Nation†big rig truck and a companion ‘Condom Nation†Sprinter van arrives in Jersey City, New Jersey—a stop on the ‘Condom Nation Tourâ€â€“a groundbreaking 25-state, 40-city, six-month nationwide tour to select cities, towns and states to hand out ten million free condoms and provide safer sex information in conjunction with local partners. ‘Condom Nation†was launched from the famed Boardwalk in Venice Beach, California as part of AHFâ€s worldwide observation of International Condom Day—an informal holiday observed annually on February 13^th in conjunction with Valentineâ€s Day. The group aims to conduct one thousand free HIV tests over the three days.

In Jersey City, AHFâ€s Condom Nation will partner with the Hyacinth AIDS Foundationâ€s Project LOL Mpowerment Jersey City and Hudson Pride Connections Center in a condom giveaway and free HIV testing event on Friday, June 1^st from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm at Journal Square PATH Train Station (Bergen Ave and Sip Ave).

The ‘Condom Nation†big rig (and the similarly-wrapped, smaller ‘Condom Nation†sprinter van) will conclude the U.S. tour in late July in Washington, DC, arriving just before the opening of the XIX International AIDS Conference in that city.

“Condom Nation is a serious, yet somewhat whimsical and creative effort by AIDS Healthcare Foundation to help promote increased condom use and to help make condoms more accessible and affordable,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “Condoms are an essential part of preventing HIV and STDs. Not only are they extremely effective at preventing transmission, they are cheaper and easier to use than many other prevention tools. Our hope is that Condom Nation raises awareness and sparks conversations along the way—both on the coasts and in the heartland—about the importance of condoms and the crucial role they play in disease prevention and safer sex.”

Currently, there are approximately 48,000 new HIV infections and 19 million new STD infections every year in the United States.

Unfortunately, few people have reliable and affordable access to condoms. Recent studies show that when condoms are available and reasonably priced or at no cost, more people use them as a protective measure against STDs, HIV and unwanted pregnancies. In addition, the average $1 retail price per condom is offset by a production cost of only $.04, leaving $.96 for profit. Retail priced condoms are simply too expensive for many people to afford and locations providing free condoms are often geographically distant from those who need them.

“In order to better protect the public health, we need universal access to condoms and they need to be available at an extremely low cost,” said James Vellequette, Associate Director for AHFâ€s ‘Condom Nation.†“This tour is a national call to action to achieve these goals and we are delighted to be working with our partners in Jersey City on Friday.”

‘Condom Nation†will:

• Partner with 40+ local advocates in 25 states to distribute ten million free condoms
• Educate and raise awareness about safe sex practices
• Promote the use of condoms through education and advertising
• Spearhead a national advocacy campaign to lower the price of condoms

Condom Nation Cities

Some of the cities the Condom Nation Tour will visit include Venice, CA (2/13/12 tour launch); Oakland, CA (Feb 17); Las Vegas, NV (Feb 21-25, condom & testing events various nights with local partners: South Nevada Health District Office of AIDS, The Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada and The Sin City Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence); Phoenix, AZ (Mar 1-2 with the Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS); Albuquerque, NM (Mar 7^th with New Mexico AIDS Services); Oklahoma City (Mar 9-11 with Guiding Light, Inc.) Ft. Worth, TX (Mar 13-14) Dallas, TX (Mar 15-16); San Antonio, TX (Mar 17-22) Houston, TX (Mar 22-24); Lafayette, LA (Mar 27 with Aspirations, Inc.) Baton Rouge, LA (Mar 28-31 with Aspirations, Inc.); Jackson, MS (April 13-14); Atlanta, GA (April 18-22, condom and testing with groups Citywide and ACT NOW!); Norfolk, VA, (April 23-28); Columbia, SC (May 4-5); Little Rock, AK (May 12); Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas (May 18-20); Kansas City, MO (May 24); Kansas City, KS (May 24); Chicago, IL (May 26-27); Detroit, MI (May 29); Jersey City, NJ (June 1^st); New York City, NY (June 17); Boston, MA, Providence, RI, Pittsburgh, PA, Columbus, OH, Cincinnati, OH, Indianapolis, IN, St. Louis, Memphis, Nashville, Charlotte, NC, Fayetteville, NC and other locations still to be worked out with the Condom Nation Tour culminating in Washington, DC on July 22, 2012—where AHF is also spearheading the ‘Keep the Promise†on HIV/AIDS Treatment March on Washington on July 22^nd.

According to a December 2011 HIV/AIDS Policy Fact Sheet produced by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the CDC reports that there are approximately 1.1 million people currently living with HIV/AIDS in the United States; an estimated 20% of these individuals do not even know they are infected. In addition, a new news posting published on February 15, 2012 on the website www.aidsmap.com reports that as many of half of all, “…new HIV transmissions in the US originate in individuals who are unaware that they are HIV-positive, a modelling study published in the online edition of AIDS estimates. Only 20% of HIV infections in the US are undiagnosed, but the investigators calculated that they were the source of 49% of all new onward transmissions

To learn more about Condom Nation and find resources to help your community, please visit www.condom-nation.org

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AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 166,000 individuals in 26 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare or @condomnation and as ‘CondomNation on Instagram for on the fly photos of the tour

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