Papua New Guinea launches own brand of condoms

The Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea has launched its own brand of condoms and will begin distributing them free of charge at health clinics across the nation to slow the spread of HIV. The National AIDS Council said that the new "Karamap" condoms were developed as part of a new awareness program about the disease. The brand name comes from pidgin, a dialect derived from English. "Karamap" is a word that refers to cooked food that has been wrapped in leaves. National AIDS Council director Ninkama Moiya said the nation plans to make and distribute 2.4 million condoms. Moiya said that while there are only about 4,800 reported cases of HIV/AIDS in the country of 5.1 million, the disease is believed to be grossly underreported, particularly in remote areas of the country.