Free condoms to cut teen pregnancies (From News Shopper)

Free condoms to cut teen pregnancies

2:54pm Thursday 11th October 2007

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CONDOM cards are now available to young people, giving them access to free contraceptives.

Gravesham Council has been working in partnership with independent community youth charity The Beat Project to help reduce teenage pregnancy rates in the borough.

People aged under 19 can register for a card at one of two Gravesham registration points.

Youngsters can register on the second floor of Gravesend Community Hospital's west wing, in Bath Street, or the Children, Families and Education Adolescent Resource Centre, in Manor Road, Gravesend.

The anonymous registration takes 15 minutes and includes a demonstration on how to put a condom on safely.

The cardholder can then visit one of 45 access points around Kent, including Gravesend Community Hospital, to collect a pack of free condoms after showing the card. It can be used 20 times before re-registration is required.

Gill Goodes is a sexual health worker on the project in Gravesend and Dartford. She said: "We are promoting the condom card scheme as it not only provides free contraception, but gives them the chance to ask questions of trained staff members at one of many registration points.

"All of this is done anonymously. Sex can be an embarrassing subject for people and hopefully this will make things easier."

Kent County Council's Kent Teenage Pregnancy Partnership, which funds The Beat Project, has also been promoting the initiative through its new youth website which was launched in late September.

The site provides a list of C-Card registration and access points in Kent as well as a Just Ask Us feature where people form Kent can ask questions about sexual health anonymously.

Louise Pantony, media and campaigns manager for the partnership, said: "If people feel embarrassed talking to adults about sex or don't know what to do and are scared to ask for help, they can fill out our online form.

"Our team of qualified nurses will then answer it and post it back on the site. It is anonymous and no-one will know who has sent it in."

For more information on the scheme click here

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