ABOUT 200 entertainment venue owners and local officials throughout Phnom Penh participated in a meeting about HIV/AIDS prevention on Thursday.

Organised by Population Service International (PSI) and the Phnom Penh Municipal Health Department, the meeting aimed to empower individuals in preventing an HIV/AIDS epidemic in their community.

Nuth Sokhom, director of the National AIDS Authority (NAA), urged bar and club owners to distribute condoms to customers at their venues.

“This meeting is very important because it could help reduce HIV/AIDS,” he said.

Nou Savann, a communications manager for PSI, said it was the first time that people from the entertainment industry had participated in such an event.

He estimated that about 99 percent of men who would like to have sex with women in entertainment venues use condoms, but that only 82 percent of them know how to use condoms properly.