Condoms not only help to prevent pregnancy but can
also protect you and your partner against HIV, hepatitis
and other sexually transmitted diseases.
It is not only people who share injecting equipment
who get HIV and hepatitis - they are also spread
through unprotected sex. Be sure you have condoms
with you if there is any chance you may need them.
HIV and hepatitis live in body fluids: mainly blood,
semen and vaginal fluid. They are passed on when the
infected body fluids of one person pass into the blood
of another person.
This happens most easily during unsafe sex: the walls of
the vagina and the skin on the penis are very thin and
easily damaged. When people have sex without a
condom the virus can pass easily into their bloodstream.
Safer sex is sex with reduced risk of your partner's
semen, vaginal fluid or blood getting into your bloodstream.
There is no cure for HIV so the only way to
protect yourself is to practise safer sex and safer injecting.