Originally seen on Shakesville, which links to this Guardian article.
The Guardian explains it thus:
"Fifa's tight restrictions on venue, where only official sponsors are allowed, will prevent fans gaining access to the condoms and to crucial health information, Aids organisations warned.
"To date Fifa has not permitted any civil society organisation to distribute HIV- or health-related information and Fifa has not provided any written confirmation that condoms may be distributed at stadia and within the fan-fests," the groups said in a statement. "This is despite the fact that commercial sponsors selling alcohol will have dedicated spaces available." "
Various AIDS groups and Shakesville refer to this as FIFA banning distribution of condoms - I am not so sure this is the case. I think that FIFA are only allowing sponors to advertise/distribute stuff so that they can make maximum money out of it. They won't make money from civil societies distributing condoms, so to me, I understand it more as FIFA blocking, not banning free condoms. Greedy bastards - that's capitalism for you.
(And yes, I do think identifying and using the right terms are important, because language is important).
Either way, it's a pretty disgraceful thing to do, especially as:
"South Africa has the world's largest number of (People living with AIDS), with an estimated 5.7 million people infected – about one in every five adults. There are around 1,400 new HIV infections every day and nearly 1,000 AIDS deaths." (Filched from the Shakesville post).
We already know that thousands of women are going to be transported to South Africa to meet the demands of male football fans who decide they 'need' to buy sex. AIDS and HIV is huge problem is all of South Africa. FIFA should be taking some responsibility for this. But I guess I must be asking too much when I request that people take some responsibilty for the world and the people around them.
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