China has ordered all hotels, holiday resorts and public
showers to provide condoms, part of nationwide efforts to fight the spread of
AIDS, a newspaper said on Friday.
The regulation, issued by the
commerce and health ministries, also required pamphlets about AIDS prevention
to be displayed, the Beijing News said.
The move follows an unusual
step by the booming eastern province
of Zhejiang
in March to fine hotels and bars if they did not provide condoms.
China originally stigmatized AIDS as a disease of the
decadent, capital West -- a problem of gays, sex workers and drug users.
Traditionally, none of these officially existed in communist China.
It has belatedly woken up to
the problem and health experts have warned the virus is now moving into the
general population.
But a lack of sex education
and unwillingness to talk about sex still hampers the fight, health experts
say.
