Why Countries Have Both Subsidized and Free Condoms to Prevent HIV/AIDS: the Role of Stigma Mitigation

This article explains why it is necessary to have both a free condoms program and a price subsidized Condom Social Marketing (CSM) program to encourage the use of condoms to prevent HIV/AIDS. One program is to aid the poor and the second is to avoid moral hazard and the stigma of being sexually active. The theory is applied to Tanzania to explain who goes to free clinics and who goes to the CSM program. A Probit analysis was applied using data from a Population Services International survey of condom use. Ability to pay measures and stigma aversion proxies were found to be statistically significant.