nstead of your traditional chocolates or flowers, New York City officials decided to celebrate this year's Valentine's Day by handing out free condoms to city residents.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose health department's condom program already distributes 1.5 million free condoms each month, hopes the city's special Valentine's Day efforts will help encourage people to engage in safe-sex practices during the holiday and beyond.

New York City Hall will soon release a branded official city condom to encourage its use. Currently, the city distributes 1.5 million free condoms monthly in ordinary wrappers.

Plans are in place to implement a distinctive package design for the city's official condom, be it a subway themed one with the lines shown in different colors.

People passing by downtown Baguio city were shocked upon seeing artists, nursing students and gender rights activists parading a 30-foot condom on their shoulders.

The colorful condom was the city's way of celebrating World AIDS Day, said Eden Divinagracia, executive director of the Philippine Non-Government Organization Council on Population Health and Welfare (PNGOC).

Officials in the state of Bihar have created a novel idea to both rehabilitate beggars and help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS: pay beggars to sing songs and enact plays to raise awareness of the deadly virus.

They want to train many of the estimated 100,000 homeless in the state to put on street plays about AIDS and to sing songs about it in trains and buses and on the sides of busy roads.

In an effort to de-stigmatize condoms, one advocacy group is encouraging people to make their own art pins using the contraceptive.

Executive director of The Condom Project, Franck DeRose, says his group started a program that aims to get people more comfortable with condoms, particularly those who live in countries where the items are taboo.

He tells Reuters, "There's a great need to de-stigmatize condoms around the world, especially in Africa."