“Get some” free NYC condoms on this special lovers’ day – February 14 – it’s for your own safety and your partner’s, city authorities are campaigning this week.

New York City’s Health Department is continuing its free condom initiative by issuing a redesigned edition of the famous NYC condoms.

“We want to give away as many condoms as people will use because we're trying to make New York City an even safer place to have sex, and this is a powerful way to do it,” Monica Sweeney, the Health Department's assistant commissioner for HIV prevention and control, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

This year’s initiative includes street teams handing out “friendly-looking” condoms on Thursday, in locations such as Times Square, Wall Street and near City Hall and an ad campaign on television and radio as well as in subways and buses, encouraging everyone and all to “get some.”

The city has been making efforts to reduce rates of sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies among its dwellers for years, and one essential part of its campaign has been the free condoms initiative. Last year, authorities even redesigned the package to make it more attractive for would-be users.

This year, a revamp has occurred again.

“Good design can help bring condoms out of the closet,” designer Yves Behar, founder of the San Francisco-based design agency, fuseproject, explained. “The brand’s friendly design and the dispenser’s approachable shape convey openness and acceptance. They say condoms are nothing to be embarrassed about.”

The “fresh package design” and “elegant new dispenser” were both gifts to New York City from Behar, whose clients include One Laptop Per Child, Johnson and Johnson, Jawbone and Herman Miller, the city specified in a press release.

About 100,000 of New York's 8.2 million residents have HIV or AIDS, and many more are diagnosed each year.

NYC doubled the monthly number of free condoms it gave away starting with 2007’s redesign, from 1.5 million to 3 million. Sweeney said some 900 establishments currently offer condoms. She added that more than 36 million free condoms were given away last year.

For further details visit New York City’s official website, at www.nyc.gov.

Image credit: www.nyc.gov.