By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
The number of male homosexuals newly diagnosed with HIV has been increasing in recent years, according to the Health Ministry, which found in a poll of gays that 28 percent used condoms only sometimes or never during casual sex.
The ministry, which released the statistics on its website (www.health.gov.il) in advance of World AIDS Day on Thursday, said it was collaborating with the National Association of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and the Transgendered to promote a series of interventions to reduce these risk behaviors. In the years 2002 to 2004, an average of 320 people were newly diagnosed as having the precursor of AIDS.