Giving the message ‘get tested for AIDS, it’s in fashion’, newly-crowned Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera Mendzo of Puerto Rico says she was against ‘free sex,’ added she said that the problem is there therefore we have to take care of ourselves.
Talking to reporters, the five feet nine inches tall lass said she had been raised by her parents teaching ”what is good and what is bad so that one can make a proper choice.”
Asked whether it was a right strategy to promote the use of condoms to check the spread of the dreaded disease, the charming 18-year-old said, ”I am not here to say what one should do or should not. I want to stress that the problem is there. We have to take care of ourselves.”
”I am not here to promote sex,” added the aspiring actress, who was on a 12-city tour of India.
The Miss Universe, who was on 18-day visit along with social activist and designer Sanjana Jon in association with Taj group of hotels, felt that ”India is one of the countries that needs special attention on AIDS awareness.”
According to an estimate of National Aids Control Organisation, last year there were about 5.134 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the country, 87.7 per cent of them being in the productive age group of 15-44.