BATON ROUGE - Some health providers will kill existing sexually transmitted infection (STI) and HIV prevention programming after the Louisiana Department of Health terminated their contracts to provide those services.

According to a 2025 report from LDH, Louisiana ranks fourth highest in the nation in diagnosis rates, with 13.7 new diagnoses per 100,000 people in 2023.

The state health department's program called Protection Connection puts condoms in public places for affordable and accessible access. Protection Connection is run through LDH's STI/HIV/Hepatitis Program (SHHP). The Protection Connection map lists hundreds of locations across the state, with dozens in the capital area. Many of these distribution sites are community places like corner stores, barber shops and care clinics.

"Whether you're looking at a teen in a grocery store who grabs a condom, they can't buy it, right? Or someone getting a haircut and they grab a condom, and that's the condom they use that night. Sometimes, it's not income, it's pure access too," Baton Rouge Aids Society Executive Director Eugene Collins said.

Collins said his organization is one of several facing cuts because of LDH's decision.

"I honestly think HIV is going to shoot through the roof again," he said.

The contract officially ended July 1. Monday was the last day for participating agencies to submit invoices to the state.

While some locations are no longer distributing condoms, others are passing out the last of the stock. Vincent Mitchell of Mitchells and Company, a barbershop and wellness center, said he agreed to join the Protection Connection program as a distribution site. He said every couple of months, boxes of condoms would be delivered to his business and he would put them out for patrons.

"I didn't realize how many people this thing was reaching. After I stopped getting them, everybody kept calling me for them. I was like, wait a minute, maybe this was working," Mitchell said.

LDH previously confirmed to WBRZ it had cancelled a small number of condom distribution contracts, saying the decision was due to a prioritization of other direct prevention services.