The South African government, criticised for a slow response to the AIDS pandemic, launched a brand of brightly wrapped condoms in a bid to enhance their appeal in the battle against HIV/AIDS.

The condoms will be distributed for free in a country where one in nine people is infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS and where the prevalence rate in the 15-to-19 year age bracket is estimated at close to 15 per cent.

?We are encouraging those who cannot abstain or remain faithful to one partner to use a condom consistently and correctly,? Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said at the launch of the new condom called Choice.

Last year the department of health distributed more than 300 million condoms, but the minister said the dull grey packaging ?was seen to be far less attractive or user-friendly then those of the commercial brands?.

The traditional silver and red-ribbon individual condoms are now distributed in blue and yellow packages with directions for use printed on them. Tshabalala-Msimang said a name was given to the condoms because ?market research... suggests that people must identify with a brand name for a product to be successfully marketed?.

The government has been criticised for its reaction to the AIDS pandemic, including a delayed roll-out of life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs and President Thabo Mbeki?s questioning of the link between HIV and AIDS.