For over a decade the Elson Student Health Center has been handing out free condoms to students, Office of Health Promotion Director at Elson Jamie Leonard said in an email statement.
"It is a common practice for public health centers to offer condoms at no or low cost for both pregnancy and STI protection," Leonard said.
Student Health receives its supply of condoms from the Ryan White Program at no cost, Leonard said.
"We currently receive our condom supplies from the Ryan White Program which is housed in the U.Va. Infectious Disease Clinic," Leonard said. "The Ryan White Program is a recipient of a grant from the Virginia Department of Health. College students are part of their target population, so we assist them in reaching their distribution goals."
Leonard said Student Health distributes various types of condoms each year.
"We provide both female and male condoms, as well as dental dams,” she said. “The female condoms are FC2, the male condoms are One Condoms and the dental dams are Sheer Glyde Dams.”
Having free condoms at Student Health allows staff to encourage safe sex to students and facilitate a comfortable setting for students to ask questions, Leonard said.
"It is important for students to feel comfortable around condoms, whether they are sexually active now or will be in the future," Leonard said.
Leonard said Student Health also has a Resident Advisor program that allows RAs to pick up bags of condoms for their residents.
"Our RA program… allows staff to have discussions with RAs about their residents’ needs or questions, brings RAs to Student Health to increase their knowledge about our services and provides an avenue for RAs to be having dialogue about safer sex practices and share resources with their residents," Leonard said.
Housing and Residence Life Chair Emma Myers, a fourth-year College student, said while the program is available to all RAs, it is left to each individual RA's discretion whether to take advantage of the program.
"We let RAs know that condoms are available through Student Health during our training in the summer," Myers said in an email statement. "Often, if RAs choose not to distribute condoms on their hall, they let residents know condoms are available to them through Student Health."
RAs also regularly plan sexual health education programs for their residents, Myers said.
“It’s up to each RA and their staff to design their programs," Myers said. “Generally, they include information about resources available to residents — like Peer Health Educators, Student Health, etc."
Annually, Student Health distributes around 20,000 condoms each year, Leonard said.
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