over 400,000 gay and bisexual men now live, work in, or visit the capital
each year and they only have funding to provide an average of four free
condoms per person per year.
"We are distributing to more gay bars and clubs but with more saunas,
back rooms and sex on the premises venues in London, we have to prioritise
where we provide them."
The crisis came to a head after many central London bars ran out of the
free condom packs after Christmas and others asked customers to make a
compulsory donation for them.
It is also known that pimps have targeted some Soho venues and taken bagfuls
of free condoms. As a
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'Freedoms' have responded to the crisis by introducing dispensers of condoms and lubricant in south London 'sex on the premises' venues and saunas, and will be introducing cheap for-sale boxes of brand-name condoms and lubricant in the capital this spring.
"We are trying to slow down the rate that condoms are going from venues," Maguire said, and he made a plea to gay men in the capital: "Please don't just help yourself to handfuls of condoms. We are appealing to people to only take condoms they need and not to store them at home."
HIV care in Bournemouth "unsatisfactory"
HIV positive people in the Bournemouth area are travelling long distances for their treatments because of what they allege is sub-standard care at the local hospital.
Local activists say that more than half of the 300 HIV patients in
