The Brazilian government plans to install 400 condom dispensing machines in state schools participating in the country's AIDS prevention program, Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao said Thursday.

One of the greatest challenges in the fight against AIDS is access to sex education and the incentive for the use of condoms, Gomes Temporao said.

According to the Health Ministry, 30 percent of the country's teenage girls did not request their partners to use a condom in their first sexual encounter as they trusted their partners. Only 7 percent of the teenage boys did not use a condom when they had sex for the first time.

Surveys show that 47 percent of Brazilian students aged 13 to 24 are sexually active, but 9.7 percent cannot afford to buy condoms.

The Health Ministry has been distributing condoms to teenagers in 10,000 schools since 2003.

A survey conducted in 135 state schools in 33 cities indicates that 89.5 percent of students and 65 percent of parents approve of installing condom dispensing machines in schools.

(Xinhua news agency June 27, 2008)