Make your partner feel protected this Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day has always been about spending that singular day once a year with your special someone—going out on an unforgettable date, buying each other gifts, or spending intimate moments together.

While these traditional ways of celebrating will always be there, no doubt one of the best ways to express your love is to really make your partner feel safe and protected—more so by using proper protection such as condoms.

Together with preventing unwanted pregnancies with a 98% effectivity rate, condoms, when properly used during sexual intercourse, has been proven to be one of the best ways to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as HIV or Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

Figures from the Commission on Population (POPCOM) shows how more adolescents engage in premarital sex, with 500 teenage girls giving birth every day. Similarly, HIV cases are on the rise in the country, with UNAIDS reporting that the number of new infections in the Philippines has more than doubled, something not to be taken lightly.

With all of these, having a condom at the ready simply shows your partner how much you really care this Valentine’s Day, which incidentally is also National Condom Day. It’s a reflection of how you both have your health and wellness in mind, and is as well a sign of deep respect and, ultimately, love and affection. And buying condoms need not to be an embarrassing experience anymore.

Thankfully, brands such as Durex make condoms accessible sans the awkwardness associated with purchasing them. Aside from making them available in retail outlets such as pharmacies, groceries and convenience stores, Durex condoms can now also be bought through online through sites like Lazada, with the available option of ‘privacy guaranteed packaging’ wherein condoms can be packed in ‘discreet books’ that really do look like an honest-to-goodness book on the outside.