Thai health officials are preparing to throw millions of disposable solutions at the problem of unwanted teen pregnancy.
With rates of Thai teens giving birth up 36 percent over a decade ago, health officials plan to distribute 80 million condoms to teenagers throughout the country, according to the Ministry of Public Health.
First it has to figure out the best way to distribute them, said Health Minister Pradit Sintawanarong.
Just more than 800,000 women who gave birth last year, and 63,475 of those were between 10 and 17 and had unprotected sex, according to the ministry.
In 2003, about 39 in 1,000 teen girls gave birth. Last year that number had increased to 53 out of 1,000.
Access to birth control will also be improved. But the more ambitious goal is the ministry’s plan to modernize sex-ed in schools, which has the support of the ministries of education, social development and human security, Bangkok Post reported.
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Photo: Robert Elyov
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