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Date: July 9th, 2001, Bangkok Post

Condoms unpopular outside sex industry

Aphaluck Bhatiasevi

The best way to curb the spread of HIV/Aids is to convince young people to delay their first sexual experience for as long as possible, said the director of the Aids Division.

Anuphong Chitvarakorn said promoting the use of condoms was not enough to control the spread of the virus, particularly since condoms were not popular outside the sex industry.

It would be more effective to teach youths to delay their first sexual experience, Dr Anuphong said, especially since there were concerns sexual behaviour among young people might speed up the spread of the disease.

"The risky sexual behaviour of youths was a cause for concern. We're worried about the number of students entering the sex industry, though we don't know how widespread the problem is," he said.

Some youngsters have also had casual sex partners, Dr Anuphong said.

On average, young Thais have their first sex experience at the age of 16, according to the Global Sex Survey conducted by Durex.

The Ministry of Education and the Department of Mental Health of the Ministry of Public Health joined forces to outline programmes to strengthen the life skills of youths.

Such efforts were aimed at teaching students not to let their friends talk them into getting involved in risky sexual behaviour.

Supatra Nakapiew, of the Human Rights on Aids Centre, said this would cut down on unwanted pregnancies and reduce the spread of the disease.

She said sex education courses conducted in schools should be made more interesting so students can use what they learn as a tool to avoid HIV/Aids and unwanted pregnancies.

Information currently provided to students in schools is not clear, Ms Supatra said.

Despite the lack of official data, Ms Supatra was convinced there was an increase in HIV infections among people below 20 years of age.

She pointed out the rise in the number of youngsters seeking HIV/Aids counselling at various NGOs and self-help groups.

Dr Anuphong did not believe risky sexual behaviour among youths represented an increase in HIV/Aids incidents among youths nationwide.

This was because the infection rate declined among 21-year-old military recruits, who represented the majority of young men, and pregnant women seeking ante-natal care, who represented women of the reproductive age group, he said.

Dr Anuphong said the rate of HIV/Aids infection among military recruits dropped from 2.5% to 1.5% this year. The rate of infection among pregnant women dipped from 4% to 1.46%.

Ministry of Public Health statistics showed 170,573 Aids patients sought hospital treatment up to May this year, 47,042 of whom died.

Last year alone, 1,685 new Aids patients were reported to have received hospital treatment while 261 patients died.

Of Aids patients, 28% belong to the 25-29 age group, 25% to the 30-34 age group, 15% to the 35-39 age group, 11% to the 20-24 age group and 4% to the 0-4 age group.

Dr Anuphong said most of these patients were infected with the virus years before they were reported as Aids patients.