Teenagers With Sexual Diseases Double

[george]

Teenagers with sexual diseases double

BANGKOK: -- The number of teenage patients infected with venereal diseases doubled this year, the Public Health Ministry said yesterday.

Somyos Kittimankong, head of the HIV/Aids division at the Public Health Ministry’s Epidemic Control Department, said the incidence of both HIV/Aids and other venereal diseases had increased in Thailand, particularly among 18- to 20-year-olds.

About 7 per cent of venereal-disease patients were teenagers two years ago, whereas now they make up 30 per cent of the group.

“Out-of-the-closet” male homosexuals accounted for 28 per cent of HIV-positive patients, up from 17 per cent last year.

Somyos said the HIV/Aids campaign and data gathering had become more difficult due to social order policies, which had pushed prostitution from being an obvious and direct trade to become more secretive and indirect.

He added that infection rates were particularly bad for girls between the ages of 15 and 19.

This was “possibly due to the fact that young women do not know how to protect themselves because of poor sex education, while some girls also have a faulty values system where they ‘score’ male sexual partners for a record”, he said.

The HIV/Aids campaign was also experiencing problems because it was not prominent on the national agenda and therefore lacked sufficient funding, Somyos said.

Currently, about 10 per cent of HIV-positive patients have a drug-resistant strain of the disease, leaving healthcare workers with no clear strategy to treat them.

Somyos said that the size of this group was likely to grow as more HIV-infected people do not go to see doctors but prefer to buy over-the-counter drugs to treat themselves.

It was estimated that in five years Thailand would have to spend about Bt12 billion to take care of people living with HIV/Aids, Somyos said.

--The Nation 2005-11-16

[meemiathai]

Only in Thailand?

[cdnvic]

Only in Thailand?

No, they doubled a long time ago in the west.

cv

[britmaveric]

Hmmm coincidentally this news comes out right before Loy Krathong? Weren't they just going on about lusty teens earlier?

[meemiathai]

Only in Thailand?

No, they doubled a long time ago in the west.

cv

[thaibebop]

Only in Thailand?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No, they doubled a long time ago in the west.

cv

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What the h3ll is all that about? What do you mean only in Thailand?

[meemiathai]

Only in Thailand?

No, they doubled a long time ago in the west.

cv

What the h3ll is all that about? What do you mean only in Thailand?

Ni hao

It was meant that sex is had everywhere in the world and is a problem the same everywhere in the world.

[thaibebop]

Only in Thailand?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No, they doubled a long time ago in the west.

cv

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What the h3ll is all that about? What do you mean only in Thailand?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ni hao

It was meant that sex is had everywhere in the world and is a problem the same everywhere in the world.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well that was really stupid of me. Of course that's what you meant. It just didn't click in my head until your last post. Feel like a fool now. Sorry.

[meemiathai]

Only in Thailand?

No, they doubled a long time ago in the west.

cv

What the h3ll is all that about? What do you mean only in Thailand?

Ni hao

It was meant that sex is had everywhere in the world and is a problem the same everywhere in the world.

Well that was really stupid of me. Of course that's what you meant. It just didn't click in my head until your last post. Feel like a fool now. Sorry.

Don't be serious, mate!

[RDN]

.... particularly among 18- to 20-year-olds...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Phew. That's OK then.

[PeaceBlondie]

I'm always a bit wary of official govt. statistics in Thailand. Things like this - STD infection within a specific cohort of the population - don't normally double within a year. Methinks the methodology, the questionnaire, the sample, the computations were wrong one year or the other, or both years.

But it's a problem, nonetheless, regardless of the exact numbers. I suspect that commercial sex workers are more careful, since they KNOW that they have so many partners. But the teenagers and young adults THINK that they only have one or two, or that their partners aren't fooling around as much as they are. And the non-commercial young people are more ignorant, or more in denial.

I don't know: are Thai parents Victorian when it comes to sex education? I saw the Thai textbook on biology for Matayom 1 (ages 12 and 13), and the chapter on human reproduction seemed explicit. But if the teachers bypass the lesson or teach it in platitudes, moral lectures, or euphemisms, the kids can't learn. For example, if they're being taught the Nancy Reagan-George W. Bush slogans like, "Just say no to sex!" then they're not being taught, "This is how the condom is put onto the penis."

[Soph]

Just a question - does Thailand offer free condoms anywhere at all? I know back when I was a naughty teenager, you could nip into the local family planning clinic and come out with a bumper pack of condoms for free.

This then solved the problem if you didnt have the cash or time/etc to nip to the shop and buy a packet of condoms.

Maybe this is the kind of thing that the Thai teenagers (and people with less cash) need?

[San_Belgium]

Just a question - does Thailand offer free condoms anywhere at all?  I know back when I was a naughty teenager, you could nip into the local family planning clinic and come out with a bumper pack of condoms for free.

This then solved the problem if you didnt have the cash or time/etc to nip to the shop and buy a packet of condoms.

Maybe this is the kind of thing that the Thai teenagers (and people with less cash) need?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

exactly what I thought!

Unfortunately I am under the impression that condom use and just about everything that has to do with sex is "discouraged", having contra-productive consequences for public health..

[britmaveric]

Read they were distributing condoms at Don Muang for those tourists entering the kingdom!

[too true]

Just a question - does Thailand offer free condoms anywhere at all?  I know back when I was a naughty teenager, you could nip into the local family planning clinic and come out with a bumper pack of condoms for free.

This then solved the problem if you didnt have the cash or time/etc to nip to the shop and buy a packet of condoms.

Maybe this is the kind of thing that the Thai teenagers (and people with less cash) need?

There's a government family planning clinic here in Chiang Mai that will give free condoms and discounted birth control pills, but you have to meet with a nurse first. Surely this must exist in every city. Can't think of the Thai name for it, but it's always full of young Thai women looking to "take care of" their little problems... if you catch my drift( I know we're not allowed to talk about this sort of thing on TV).

[Ijustwannateach]

Like most other countries that eventually wind up with major out-of-control sexual epidemics, Thailand is following the Reaganesque "Just Say No" model. The same model (revived by Bush and attached to conditions for international aid) is now being blamed for a resurgence of HIV infection levels in Uganda. They'll keep banging their heads against the wall until it hurts enough...

[Abandon]

I'm always a bit wary of official govt. statistics in Thailand.  Things like this - STD infection within a specific cohort of the population - don't normally double within a year.  Methinks the methodology, the questionnaire, the sample, the computations were wrong one year or the other, or both years.

yep

[BambinA]

Just a question - does Thailand offer free condoms anywhere at all? 

well... we have it

anyhow ..what can i say .. just som num nah , stupid kiddo ..just wanna have fun but never thought and safe emselves

if somebody wanna have fun, mean they are 14 yo up.. have much neuron enuf for think

if spermatozoa pack in skull till make em forget other thing ..serves their right then

Edited November 17, 2005 by BambinA

[thaibebop]

Only in Thailand?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No, they doubled a long time ago in the west.

cv

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What the h3ll is all that about? What do you mean only in Thailand?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ni hao

It was meant that sex is had everywhere in the world and is a problem the same everywhere in the world.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well that was really stupid of me. Of course that's what you meant. It just didn't click in my head until your last post. Feel like a fool now. Sorry.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Don't be serious, mate!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No really it went right over my head. I was having a loopy day that day sorry.