condoms for christmas?

A packet of condoms should top everyone's Christmas wish list this year, according to Oxfam - but not for the reason you might think!

Oxfam is offering the unusual gift as one of five “Positive Pressies” as part of a campaign to tackle HIV and Aids. The campaign, launched on 1 December to tie in with World Aids Day, will help to directly tackle the spread of HIV by encouraging safe sex and providing condoms.

Anyone ordering the gift will receive information about their present, while the gift itself will go to individuals or communities in the developing world. The presents, which are all featured in Oxfam’s Unwrapped catalogue, will help communities affected by the disease by distributing condoms and hygiene products and providing education, training and counselling.

Oxfam campaigner Georgia Stokes said:

"By buying these presents from Oxfam Unwrapped people are giving the priceless gift of safe sex, and a longer, healthier life to many thousands of people in the developing world. ;Tackling Aids doesn’t just mean people live longer - it also means that the main breadwinners for many families are able to keep providing for them.”

She added: “By buying from Oxfam Unwrapped this December you can help us to tackle HIV and Aids one condom at a time.”

Other Christmas gifts available in the Oxfam Unwrapped catalogue include bags of seeds and training to help farmers in the developing world to make a better living, toilets, schools and emergency response kits.