The 10th Thai National AIDS Seminar, July 13-15, is focused on educating teenagers on sexual behavior and HIV/AIDS prevention, said Public Health Minister Suchai Charoenratanakul. About 500 teens are attending the seminar, whose motto is "Our Generation, our decision, our responsibility." One thousand students from the seminar locations, Suan Dusit Rajabhat University and Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, will serve as event staff.

According to Suchai, the seminar is addressing teen issues because of their increasingly promiscuous behavior and premature and unprotected sex. A ministry report last year, Sexual Behavior Watch, surveyed 12,242 high school students, most age 17. Nearly a fifth of the 5,746 boys interviewed said they had had sex; 2 percent reported sex with other men. Most boys said their first sexual intercourse was at age 15; nearly two-thirds had not used condoms. The study found less than half of sexually active boys used condoms with sex workers and only 26 percent used condoms with girlfriends.

Of 6,496 girls surveyed, 5 percent admitted to having sex; most said their first time was at age 16. Nearly a third said they had been forced into sex, according to the report. Roughly 16 percent of sexually active girls reported using condoms with boyfriends; 0.5 percent used condoms while having sex with other men.

Suchai said the fact that almost half of the boys drank alcohol or took drugs before having sex raised concerns about their capability to protect themselves from STDs.

Last year, about 20,000 new HIV/AIDS cases were reported in Thailand. Suchai said his ministry's goal is to keep the number of new cases under 18,000 this year by conducting various campaigns, including the teen-oriented seminar.

Back to other news for July 13, 2005

Search the Newsroom archive