AHF Celebrates International Condom Day
By Ged Kenslea, AHF
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) celebrated International Condom Day (ICD) on February 13, 2026 with the simple message — “Just Use It!” — to put condoms, one of the most powerful and cost-effective tools in HIV and STI prevention, back in the spotlight. Worldwide commemorations across nearly 50 AHF country teams combined fun, creativity and education with free condom distribution, reinforcing the message that protecting sexual health should be accessible, stigma-free and empowering for everyone.
The surge in STI rates worldwide, particularly syphilis, was not a mystery — it was what happened when global funding diminished and condoms were not prioritized for prevention. Without an immediate course correction, HIV would soon follow. Each condom used helped safeguard decades of progress in the global HIV response and avoided far more costly setbacks. Sustaining HIV prevention and reversing rising STIs did not require new scientific innovations — it required political will, sustained investment and a renewed commitment to ensure condoms were free or affordable and widely available to those who needed them most.
“Condoms still work! We have the proven formula to stop HIV/AIDS after 40 years: Get tested. Get treated. Use condoms — it’s as basic as that. We can’t stop HIV/AIDS without condoms. The continued spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections is not a failure of science — it’s a failure of leadership and commitment to prevention,” said Terri Ford, AHF chief of global advocacy and policy.
“Condoms are effective, affordable and proven, but too often they are sidelined by stigma, underinvestment and policy choices that limit access. Condoms must be treated as an essential public health good, backed by sustained funding, education and promotion. It does not make any sense not to champion the free distribution of condoms. They are cost-effective. They work. Let’s all make it happen to save lives!” Ford added.
Launched by AIDS Healthcare Foundation in 2009, International Condom Day (Feb. 13) celebrated condoms as the world’s best option for preventing HIV, other STIs and unplanned pregnancies. ICD reminded the public that condoms are safer, sexy and must be kept at the center of protecting sexual health worldwide: “Just Use It!”
Visit LOVEcondoms.org to learn more and to check out AHF’s Global Public Health Revolution podcast episode, “Safer Is Sexy: Condoms & Creative Health Campaigns,” for a conversation about condoms — their role in saving lives, breaking taboos and shaping public health campaigns worldwide.
Since 2022, AHF has also toured a free burlesque show bringing safer-sex messaging as part of its celebration of International Condom Day to enthusiastic, sold-out audiences across the United States. This year’s encore burlesque spectacle, “Ohh Mamma!” played off the international ABBA-inspired film juggernaut “Mamma Mia!” Throughout February, AHF brought “Ohh Mamma!” — with its bold performances, jaw-dropping costumes and show-stopping routines — to appreciative audiences in New York City, Washington, DC, Chicago and Columbus, Ohio.
