Here is a little thought-provoking riddle: What is legally sold and used throughout the country, yet never advertised?

The answer, of course, is condoms.

More than 2 billion condoms are sold in China every year, one fifth of the world's total. But you will not find any advertisements or commercials for condoms in the mainstream Chinese media.

The rationality of this is questionable now that the use of condoms needs to be forcefully promoted in China as an effective way to prevent the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Half of the country's HIV infections are transmitted through unsafe sex.

The obstacles preventing the public promotion of condom use are a regulation issued by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce in 1989 that bans the advertising of sex products and the Advertising Law, which came into effect on Feb 1, 1995 and prohibits advertising anything that might "jeopardize social customs and violate good social conventions".

The health authorities have attached great importance to promoting the use of condoms, and both the Regulations on AIDS Prevention and Control and the Mid- and Long-Term Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control issued by the State Council actively promote condom use.

It is estimated that there are 780,000 people in China living with HIV/AIDS, and, according to statistics from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention there have been 48,000 people infected with HIV so far this year; 81.6 percent of them contracting the virus through sex.

Many people are not aware that using a condom can significantly reduce the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease, so it is urgent that the ban on condom advertising be lifted so that more people can form the habit of using them.

People need to realize that condoms are not only contraceptives, they are also prophylactics that reduce the risk of catching HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

At present, the responsibility for promoting condom use is largely borne by NGOs and social workers. But there is a limit of how far and wide they can reach as they focus their efforts on high-risk populations. The media should be encouraged to broadcast public service advertisements that raise people's awareness of the role condoms play in preventing the spread of HIV.

Accepting the important role condoms play in the fight against the spread of HIV is the first step to ensuring that people regard condoms a natural part of public health and an opportunity for policy-makers to abolish the outdated administrative regulations made two decades ago.

(China Daily 12/06/2011 page8)