Men are using condoms less, even as syphilis and other STDs surge

The basket of free ultrathin and studded condoms stayed full to the brim — a recurrent reality that no longer surprised the D.C. health workers offering HIV testing this month at a downtown plaza.

Public health authorities are confronting a rise in sexually transmitted infections in a world where condom use has steadily declined — and, with it, one of the most effective ways of curbing the spread of disease.

“They’ll laugh at it, or sometimes they get it and throw it away,” said Kevins Anglade, a community outreach worker for...