Groups urge condom use on National Condom Day

The National Coalition of STD Directors and the American Social Health Association are urging sexually active Americans to "love responsibly" and use condoms as part of its annual National Condom Day message. The day, held on February 14 to coincide with Valentine's Day, aims to encourage safer sex to prevent HIV transmissions and other sexually transmitted diseases. "Sexually transmitted diseases remain one of the nation's biggest public health threats, and it is high time that we as a nation get serious--get passionate--about addressing the problem," says James Allen, president and CEO of ASHA. "Abstinence and monogamy are important public health messages, but to think that messages of abstinence and monogamy alone will fix the problem is shortsighted at best and dangerous at worst."