THE Health Ministry says it is experiencing widescale resistance from local hotels which are still without condom dispensing machines, but Jamaica Tourist and Hotel Association (JHTA) president Horace Peterkin says this has not been his experience.

“This is not something that I thought would have been a problem because I am not hearing any opposition of any kind,” Peterkin told the Observer on Monday.

Nevertheless, the Sandals Montego Bay manager said he would send out an appeal to the hotels.

In 2004, the health ministry, in conjunction with the tourism sector, launched a pilot project that would see the installation of condom-dispensing machines in hotels across the island in an effort to promote safe sex and stem the spread of HIV/AIDS.

But on Monday, head of Epidemiology and AIDS at the Ministry of Health, Dr Peter Figueroa, told reporters that said since the launch, only a small number of hotels had actually installed dispensers.

He was responding to a question at the launch of ‘Safer Sex Week’ at the University of Technology in Kingston about the National HIV/STI prevention and Control Programme’s preparations for ICC Cricket World Cup.

“Condoms are readily accessible in Jamaica, although we have a challenge where hotels tend to resist having condom machines in the bathrooms that the guests use or in the actual rooms of the hotel,” Figueroa said, adding that “condom machines are in the staff room of the workers”.

Howard Hamilton, chairman of the National AIDS Committee, said he believed that the hotels were taking an unrealistic approach by not installing condom-dispensing machines in the hotels.

“We all know what people go to hotel rooms to do; it is not just a place to sleep during their holidays,” he said.

Hamilton said the hotels needed to be part of the initiative to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS in the resort areas, since most of the visitors to the island during Cricket World Cup 2007 would be staying in hotels.

In the meantime, Figueroa said the general HIV/AIDS education campaign that the ministry had undertaken throughout the year had helped the country to prepare for Cricket World Cup.

“In addition, we have been doing some targeted intervention outreach with commercial sex workers over the past year, which also will help us to prepare for Cricket World Cup,” he said.

Meanwhile, the week was endorsed by West Indian cricketer Gareth Breese and members of the MVP Track and Field Club. Activities for Safer Sex Week will take place under the theme “Safe Sex/Good Sex=Rubbers and a Test”. The week’s activities include testing, educational seminars and demonstrations at the Emancipation Park in Kingston today (Valentines Day), as well as free testing at St William Grant Park on Friday.