Free condom handout suspended by Beijing universities

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2004

BEIJING (AFP) — Two top Beijing universities have suspended a programme to distribute free condoms to students to prevent HIV/AIDS, frowning on it as "inappropriate".

Administrators at prestigious Beijing University and Tsinghua University prevented the handout going ahead Tuesday, saying it was not acceptable and that organizers had not obtained approval.

"We should put more emphasis on guiding college students not to have pre-marital sex," Zhou Baohua, head of Beijing University's hospital, was quoted by the Xinhua news agency as saying Wednesday.

"Condom use only serves as a secondary method for educating those who can't control themselves."

The program was to hand out 1,500 free condoms at Beijing University and 1,000 at Tsinghua, said organizers...