Improper condom use is a global health problem, research shows

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(CBS) Do condoms go hand in hand with safe sex? Only if they're used correctly. But public health officials are saying improper condom use is a problem, not just within the U.S. but everywhere around the world.

A new study published in the journal of Sexual Health provides a global picture of condom use, based on 50 articles representing 14 countries. Led by the Kinsey Institute Condom Use Research Team, researchers from around the world compared notes on condom habits and issues, including the use of female condoms in South Africa and counterfeit condoms in China.

The most common errors included not using condoms throughout sex, not leaving space or squeezing air from the tip of the condom, putting condoms on upside down, not using water-based lubricants, and incorrect withdrawal. Other problems included breakage, slippage, leakage, and difficulties with fit and feel.

Many studies have been done in the past about condom use and access around the world, but little attention is paid to whether people understand how to use condoms in the first place.

"We chronically underestimate how complicated condom use can be," Richard Crosby, a member of the research team and the lead editor for Sexual Health's special issue, said in a news release. "It involves the use of a condom, while negotiating the condom use and sex with a partner all at the same time. There is a complex triad of the sex act, condom use and partner dynamics that must constantly be navigated by condom users."

Making condoms accessible is important, Crosby said, but so is the need to improve clinic-based counseling and public education efforts. This involves talking openly about topics that many people find embarrassing, such as erections, semen, lubricant and other aspects of sex. In this case, embarrassment can cost individuals' health and lives, Crosby said.

Researchers said proper use of condoms is key in reducing unplanned pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted infections such as HIV - especially because condoms are inexpensive compared to costly HIV and AIDS medications.

Said Crosby, "Condoms are the vaccine we've been waiting for."

The CDC provides a guide on proper condom use.

[FormerUSMCSergeant]

"We chronically underestimate how complicated condom use can be," Richard Crosby
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Complicated?

Maybe for the brain-dead.

[magnumdr]

Duh. I think these people should put these things over their heads.

[daerday]

Well of course I use condoms improper. They make good tools to knock out your friend when you fill them up with water and throw them out the second story window. Blow them up and pop them or write good year. My favorite one is taking them and filling them with half a roll of quarters and swinging them around till it reaches the peak of how much it can stretch. Then let go. Compete with your friends and see who can throw them the furthest. Now when it comes to sex. I read the box and my lady is on the pill.

[43arun]

Every organ in our body has a specific function. For example, the kidneys have excretory function and the lungs have respiratory function. Similarly the reproductive organs have reproductive function. Furthermore, because people of two opposite sex are needed, for this function to be completed, the organs involved in this function are called sexual organs and the act which initiates reproduction (by deposition of the sperms in the neighborhood of the ovum) is called a sexual act. The above facts clearly show that the primary physiological purpose conjugal union is reproduction. Furthermore, the only physiological function in which two people (of opposite sex) act as a single unit by uniting their bodies is reproduction. Furthermore by uniting their bodies without any barrier to the physiological purpose of their union, they are offering it as a pure offering, to one another. This makes this act an act of love. This act therefore is the most sacred act between a husband and a wife. However, when there is a barrier to the physiological purpose of this act by condoms, it becomes a perversion. It is then similar to putting a barrier in the esophagus prior to eating food, in order to prevent nutrients in the food from entering the blood stream. Furthermore, when there is a barrier to the physiological purpose of the act, there is no complete giving of oneself to the other. This makes it a selfish act and degrades the respect and love spouses have for each other.

[train99]

I like this comment. I've been wondering how sex can be called an act of love when it's...sexual intercourse. But you put forth a good theory.
And you certainly show how condoms ruin everything, and how men may sense the intimacy is lost ... and then, as a consequence, lose their erections...and, damn it, that's probably why they're are so many "accidents"!

[Jaylah54]

I sincerely hope you were attempting irony there.

[Jaylah54]

Would somebody please explain to me how in the world anybody could put a condom on "upside down"?

[newsworthy8]

Stand on your head, then place your condom....