Apolonio Gomez

Apolonio Gómez is driving to the heart of the problems of AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and unplanned pregnancies in Mexico, with the creation of a mobile, far-reaching delivery system for critical health information and contraceptive products.

Mexico's profound sexual health problems continue unabated largely because of problems of access: access to forums where people can talk openly about sexuality and sexual health; access to real information on AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and pregnancy; and access to contraceptive products. Youth are the least likely to overcome barriers to access and are the most vulnerable to the dire, sometimes fatal consequences of uninformed sexual behavior. Apolonio discerned that to solve the access problems, efforts have to go to the people, notably young people, and reach them on a level where they can learn.

Apolonio started up a mobile sexual health outreach venture to bring essential sexual health information and products to those who would not otherwise get them. Both pragmatic and whimsical, his "CondomMobile" efficiently bears its lifesaving payload to far-flung corners and overlooked backwaters of Mexico, while capturing the attention of young people and passersby everywhere. Making strategic stops at plazas, parks, universities, and other gathering-places throughout the country, Apolonio gets through to young people in ways that conventional campaigns, workshops, and classes cannot. He uses audio, visual, and dramatic media, and person-to-person interaction, including stories about his own life with HIV. Apolonio partners with local AIDS and sexual health institutions both to gain a foothold in the communities he visits and to bolster the capacity of local institutions to serve the communities once the CondomMobile has driven away.

Since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, tens of thousands of Mexicans have died of the disease. According to Apolonio's estimate, there are currently about 150,000 carriers of HIV in Mexico. Mexico also has major problems with sexually transmitted diseases that can lead both to complications at childbirth, including death, and to unplanned pregnancy. Young, sexually active people are highly at risk as a result.

If used properly, condoms are highly effective in reducing both unplanned pregnancies and HIV and STD transmission. However, there are barriers to people accessing condoms and other contraceptive products, as well as information on their use. In Mexican drugstores condoms are behind the counter, and you have to ask for them–a problem for young people who may be too shy to ask for them. More significantly, mainstream Mexican culture has not encouraged condom use. The Catholic Church and conservative political forces–both powerful in Mexico–have at times strongly opposed the use of contraception. The abstinence alternative is not an attractive one for many young people, and it is not a realistic way to ameliorate sexual health problems in Mexico.

More broadly, discussion of safe sex and most other sexual issues is taboo in many parts of Mexico, and delicate in even the most progressive areas. Consequently, educational and informational efforts often fall short because they are tempered by religious, cultural, or political reservations. They also tend to be formal, reaching people through classes, workshops, speeches–all forms of instruction and lecturing. While well-intentioned, such efforts fail to create environments where people, particularly young people, feel comfortable asking questions and getting information, and they do not compellingly persuade people to change their sexual behavior. Some citizen organizations, particularly in Mexico City, have been more successful at getting through to people on their terms. But all initiatives share a key failing: mobility. They do not reach out to people where they are–universities, town squares, parks, factories, markets, bars, and discos–to make it easy and cheap for them to learn about AIDS, STDs, and pregnancy and to get the products necessary to protect themselves and their partners. Moreover, they do not reach smaller cities and towns.

Apolonio has solved the mobility problem. He drives a Condomóvil ("CondomMobile") on outreach tours around Mexico City and throughout the country. He carries in the vehicle a complete assortment of supplies and information to share with the communities he visits.

Apolonio uses the frank and attractive power of the truck adapted into a vehicular promotion for safe sex (replete with graphic designs and messages on all sides), as well as music, video presentations, and theatrical performances to capture the attention of young people and passersby generally. Young people are more likely to approach the CondomMobile than attend a conventional workshop or class. Once brought into the CondomMobile's orbit, they feel more comfortable asking basic questions about sex and hearing the answers told frankly.

Anyone may also obtain condoms free or at below-market prices. Apolonio tailors his message to the particular community he addresses and will discuss abstinence and monogamy as additional protection strategies. His focus is on educating sexually active young people. As an HIV-positive individual, Apolonio is a person young people want to talk to.

Apolonio partners with local citizens and government institutions at each stop of the CondomMobile. This partnership strategy offers Apolonio significant leverage in terms of logistics, publicity, and impact. It also creates local bases of support against opponents. More importantly, the strategy allows for local institutionalization of best practices. Apolonio brings to his local partners current and effective information, products, ideas, and methodologies for reaching out to people, especially vulnerable and hard-to-reach youth. At the time of the CondomMobile's visit and in follow-up sessions, Apolonio provides workshops on various aspects of sexual health and accessibility. He helps to arrange for training and strategic planning for these local health organizations.

For three months each year the CondomMobile is on a grand Ruta por la Vida ("Tour for Life") that cuts long arcs through Mexico's far-flung cities, smaller towns, and rural areas, where information on sexual health is sparse and inadequate. In the smallest cities and towns, Apolonio may be helping local health institutions with no prior experience with sexual health to establish programs for AIDS, STDs, and unplanned pregnancy. During nine months of the year, the CondomMobile visits sites in and around Mexico City. Apolonio has partnered with networks including universities, polytechnic institutes, and the city's health agencies. With them, he coordinates visits to their networks of university campuses, preparatory schools, vocational schools, and health centers.

The CondomMobile has garnered attention from potential replicators as well as from beneficiaries. So far, a citizen group in Carácas, Venezuela, has created its own CondomMobile and associated program–all inspired by Apolonio after he entered a promotional poster in an international conference held in Brazil in 2000. An organization in Mérida, capital of Mexico's Yucatán state, created a parallel initiative using a "CondonTrici," a three-wheeled, human-powered, condom-bearing vehicle. Apolonio has identified a third potential replicator in Chiapas State. He hopes not only to inspire more replicators but also to work with other ambulant sexual health educators promoting kindred "vehicular" solutions to the access problem. He has begun to establish connections with a few of them in Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, and neighboring Guatemala. Apolonio also wants to grow his own program by running more CondomMobiles on more routes, thus multiplying beneficiaries and impact. Indeed, Apolonio's recent acquisition of a new, bigger CondomMobile means that its predecessor, a modified Beetle, can run concurrently.

The CondomMobile makes a great story in the press, and Apolonio uses this advantage to spread the word. Apolonio is also a frequent invitee to Mexican and international events on AIDS and sexual health, where more and more potential replicators and funders meet him and learn about his initiative. Apolonio's networks are strong. He is a seasoned social leader in the fields of sexual health and AIDS, and has been associated since 1985 with Colectivo Sol (Sun Collective), a leading AIDS-education citizen organization in Mexico City founded by Ashoka Fellow Juan Jacobo Hernández. Currently, Colectivo Sol provides administrative backing to the CondomMobile venture.

To date, Apolonio has provided information or products to about 1.5 million Mexicans. He has reached 27 of Mexico's 32 states and the federal district of Mexico City. At the current rate, he reaches 250,000 people each year directly, and all of their sexual partners indirectly. He has distributed more than 1.2 million condoms.

Born in Mexico City, Apolonio began to get involved in social activities as a child, first as part of his church's community service programs. Later, he taught literacy classes to primary school students in communities of Coras, Tepehuanes, and Huicholes in the rural Sierra de Nayarit. His experience in indigenous communities taught him about the daily travails and injustices that many people face. He soon became involved in gay-lesbian pride marches and activities. It was in these circles that Apolonio met Juan Jacobo Hernández, an Ashoka Fellow and the founder of Colectivo Sol. Apolonio joined Colectivo Sol as a volunteer. He began to give speeches, workshops, and conferences on AIDS and was part of the team that organized the first Caminata Nocturna Silenciosa (Silent Night-time Walk) to remember Mexicans who had died of AIDS. In 1998 Apolonio started up the CondomMobile.

Although he is almost 40 years old, Apolonio is known for having the energy of someone much younger. The virus he carries has not prohibited him from realizing his life goals. Indeed, it is quite the opposite. Apolonio writes, "I am a person who carries the acquired immunodeficiency virus, and for this reason I have dedicated my time, my effort, my space, and my person to combat this terrible sickness and guarantee healthy sexuality in all senses of the word."