Nearest Place To Buy Condoms

The Condom Distribution Program promotes condom use to prevent the transmission of HIV, other STIs, and unintended pregnancy, by providing access to FREE condoms through clinics, colleges/universities, community partners, or local businesses. Individuals can pick up FREE condoms at any of the locations listed.

nearest place to buy condoms

In 2004, Brackett reported that one of several strategies employed by young adults to reduce the embarrassment of condom purchase is to avoid asking for help or for location of condoms within a store [13]. Yet the popular press has reported that condoms are often stored in locked cases in drug store aisles. In 2006, the Washington Post reported that one national pharmacy sold condoms in locked cases in 22 of 50 of their Washington, DC stores [14]. Requiring assistance from store personnel to purchase condoms makes the sale more public, lengthy, complicated, and potentially embarrassing, thereby creating a barrier to access.

While condom purchase preferences and behavior have been explored, condom placement within physical reach has received narrow attention. In 2006, Scott-Sheldon et al. reported on the impact of embarrassment in securing condoms. They examined condom placement relative to the proximity of other embarrassing products, and the positive/negative associations such placement fosters [16]. In this study, two thirds of condoms were positioned behind or next to the checkout counter, though the proportion behind the counter and requiring assistance is not specified. Klein et al. investigated several aspects of condom availability, including condom visibility and placement within store aisles [12]. This paper found that the majority of drug stores displayed condoms in the aisles, while the majority of private grocery and convenience stores kept them behind the counter. However, the limited data on this barrier have not been validated in a community of such significant risk as the Bronx, nor has condom accessibility through the lens of mandatory interaction been researched.

The goal of this paper was to describe the prevalence of structural barriers to condom access in the Bronx, specifically physical inaccessibility, defined as the sale from locked cases or behind store counters requiring interaction with store personnel. We hypothesized that physical inaccessibility of condoms would be found in the majority of the sites selling condoms in the Bronx. In addition, we sought to determine whether or not the prevalence of these structural barriers was associated with the socioeconomic status (SES) of the health districts within the Bronx.

We conducted an observational study of grocery stores and pharmacies in the Bronx. The Bronx Yellow Pages lists 320 pharmacies (80 of them are chain pharmacies) and approximately 900 grocery stores in the 20 zip codes in the county. Seventy-five pharmacies were sampled using computerized randomization from the 320 listed. As pharmacies are largely represented in commercial areas, they were used as focus points for sampling of the two nearest grocery stores or supermarkets. If the pharmacies were so closely clustered that two different grocery stores per pharmacy were not encountered, we would survey the maximum number of stores within walking distance of those pharmacies, operationalized as within 5 blocks.

Study representatives were trained by the principle investigator to collect data. Staff entered each selected location in the manner of an ordinary customer and observed the location of condom placement. If condoms were not visible, the representative asked the store clerk whether condoms were sold and if so, where in the store they were located. On leaving the store, the representative provided the following data on a coding form developed by the investigators: the type of store, zip code, availability of condoms, specific condom location within the store, whether personnel assistance was needed to obtain condoms prior to purchase, and the number of interactions required prior to purchase.

We determined that 75 pharmacies and 90 grocery stores needed to be sampled based on a presumed point estimate of 50% of sites keeping condoms physically out of reach, in order to achieve a 95% confidence interval of 10% around this point estimate. To even the distribution of grocery stores and achieve the minimum sample size, we surveyed the two closest grocery stores to each pharmacy, aiming for 150 stores and 225 total sites. Data organization and analysis were performed using Epi Info version 2000 (EpiInformatics, Doraville, GA). The chi-square test was used to compare categorical data. Ninety-five percent confidence intervals were calculated by standard methods [17].

Although 91% of stores surveyed in the Bronx sold condoms, the vast majority (82%) sold them in locked cases or behind sales counters. In almost all of the convenience stores and in 78% of independent pharmacies, consumers required assistance from site personnel in order to purchase condoms. Thus, condom accessibility was poor in the sites most commonly encountered; most Bronx stores are convenience stores and 3 out of every 4 pharmacies are small and privately owned. Accessibility was likewise poor in the lowest-SES districts. Since the low-SES districts also have the highest rates of HIV, STIs, and teen pregnancy, barriers to condom access are of particular concern.

A limitation of our study is that condoms can be acquired from sources other than stores, such as high schools or community health centers. There were no data available on the number or rate of condom distribution in local high schools. However, students who have previously reported on condom availability in schools have found them to be inadequate in supply [18]. Moreover, distribution in schools does not benefit those who are older or adolescents who are not in school. A further limitation was inadequate information about where individuals in our region actually acquire their condoms. We were unable to quantify whether or not individuals seek condoms from free sources and the number of such sites in the region. Though we do not know whether young adults usually purchase condoms from chain pharmacies, where condoms are usually sold with open access, those pharmacies represent the minority of the total in our community and may be difficult for some to access. Finally, although the small sample size led to wide confidence intervals around the odds ratios, the results are nonetheless significant as the lower limit of the confidence interval was greater than one.

Although not confirmed, it has been suggested that the fear of theft is one reason why condoms are sold from locked cases or behind store counters. Therefore, efforts to change the sales practices in smaller stores with less financial stability may be unrealistic. However, this does not change the fact that access to condoms is critical, especially in areas which had the highest STI rates; that there may be a structural barrier to condom purchase in these communities represents an incongruity between what is most needed and what is available. To this end, public health policy must involve local community advocates and businessmen.

The vast majority of sites surveyed in the Bronx sold condoms in locked cases or behind sales counters. Failure to make condoms readily accessible for unmediated purchase may disproportionately deter adolescents and women from acquiring condoms and ultimately from adopting recommendations for condom use. This information can prompt similar investigations in other high-risk communities and inform public health efforts to increase condom accessibility and the distribution of free condoms in public and practice settings.

Get it On (GIO) is the condom distribution scheme running across Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton. If you are under 25 you can get free condoms from lots of different organisations. Even if you are under 16 years old you can still join the scheme.

Think of your GIO C-Card as a loyalty card that allows you to get free condoms from participating Get It On venues. These venues include Pharmacies, GP surgeries, youth groups and sexual health clinics.

All you need to do is show your GIO C-Card at a GIO venue and you'll be given free condoms. We need to see your GIO C-Card so that we know you have spoken to a trained worker. You can do this 12 times before your card runs out, then you will be given a new card.

There are many different brands of condoms available and they all slightly differ in their size. Most GIO sites will be giving out a brand called Pasante which are available in Trim, Naturelle and King Size.

The main plot involves a Mongolian nomad who wants to have sex with his wife. I think this is the opening shot: Wide steppe and a stick jutting out of the grass with a red kerchief tied to it, for privacy. She refuses because they have so many children already and he is sent to the city to buy condoms. When he finally enters a pharmacy he doesn't bring himself to ask the young female pharmacist for condoms.

A Mongolian shepherd Gombo lives in a yurt in Inner Mongolia with his wife, three children, and mother. They are portrayed as unsophisticated and traditional and Gombo desires relations with his wife, to try for a fourth child, which puts his wife at unease due to Chinese law. Intoxicated Russian buffoonish truck driver Sergei has stranded himself, driving his truck into a river and is picked up by Gombo, taken to his family's yurt, to join him in dinner. Gombo's family are particularly taken with Sergei's back tattoos, later revealed to be sheet music for "On the Hills of Manchuria". Gombo and Sergei become mutual dependencies despite their language and cultural differences. Gombo and Sergei go into the nearest city together, where Gombo is supposed to buy contraceptives (condoms), buying a television set and other goods, but not contraceptives due to drugstore staff being women. Sergei, a former army bandsman, becomes drunk and sings "On the Hills of Manchuria" in a nightclub, with the band playing from his back tattoos. He is arrested and bailed out of jail by Gombo. 041b061a72