Youth exchange knowledgeon self-protection regarding sex and pregnancy
There are only a few days left beforeThailand opens a major conference thatfocuses on the issue of teenage pregnancy with the 3rd National Sexual Health Conference. It is an important opportunity that gathers academics, experts, practitioners, and youth working in sexual health to share knowledge, experiences, and stories thatmany people never knew actually happened in Thailand.
This year’s main topic is “Teenage Pregnancy: From Strategy to Sustainable Practice” to drive the 3rd Sexual Health Conference from January 28-30, 2019, at Centra by Centara Government Complex Hotel & Convention Centre. The organizing agencies include the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth), Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Interior, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UNICEF Thailand, PATH Foundation (P2H), and the Foundation for Women’s Health Understanding. Additionally, there are related partners supporting the conference.
For the path of organizing the national sexual health conference, it started from the issue of teenage pregnancy in Thailand over the past 10 years. During 2008-2012, the statistics of teenage mothers increased continuously. This problem has eroded the bright future of Thai children. In 2012, there were as many as 350 teenage mothers per day, or 130,000 per year.
3rd National Sexual Health Conference: A Platform to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy
For this reason, in 2012, ThaiHealth, together with several agencies, began working on knowledge compilation, integrating work between different agencies, and supporting the development of teenage pregnancy models at the provincial level in 20 provinces, which led to the collection of lessons and knowledge sets from the work to drive policy level.
Then, in 2014, ThaiHealth, together with key agencies and partners, organized the first national sexual health conference, highlighting the issue of “Teenage Pregnancy” to awaken all sectors in society to recognize and realize the importance of this problem together. This resulted in awareness across all sectors, allowing ThaiHealth and the Ministry of Public Health, together with related partners, to drive and push the Prevention and Solution of Teenage Pregnancy Act, which the National Legislative Assembly supported and passed into law, effective in July 2016.
In 2017, the issue of teenage pregnancy was further developed in the 2nd National Sexual Health Conference under the concept “Open Sex in Teenagers: Opening Spaces to Increase Sexual Literacy” because the key to sustainable prevention and solution of teenage pregnancy is for adults to understand the nature of teenagers and open spaces for learning about sex to help teenagers be safe from both unplanned pregnancy and other problems.
Prohibiting teenagers from having sex is impossible, but how to make teenagers learn and have appropriate and safe sexual behavior? That conference coincided with the announcement of the 10-year national strategy under the Prevention and Solution of Teenage Pregnancy Act, aiming to reduce teenage pregnancy by 50% by 2026, communicating to society to jointly push to achieve the goal.
Dr. Sirikiat Liangkobkit, Director of the Office of Health Risk Factor Control Support, ThaiHealth
Dr. Sirikiat Liangkobkit, Director of the Office of Health Risk Factor Control Support, ThaiHealth, said that the 3rd National Sexual Health Conference, ThaiHealth, together with key agencies and network partners, set the main topic of the conference as “Teenage Pregnancy: From Strategy to Sustainable Practice” because after the Prevention and Solution of Teenage Pregnancy Act has been in effect since 2016 and there is a 10-year strategy to reduce teenage births by half by 2026, now the five main ministries are preparing to issue ministerial regulations to ensure that all levels of implementing agencies understand their roles and responsibilities under the Act. The key content is to support and ensure that teenagers can access various rights, especially learning about sexual education, receiving contraceptive and reproductive health services, continuing education even if pregnant, and receiving equal social welfare without discrimination.
“After the Act has been in effect for over 3 years, there is a trend that the situation of women giving birth at ages 10-19 is decreasing from 5 years ago, with over 350 teenagers becoming mothers per day. In 2017, it decreased to 250 per day. This is the result of various agencies bringing policies to develop into real practice. ThaiHealth, together with network partners from government, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, academics, and civil society, has supported strategic driving and deepening to the local level. This month, it is time for all sectors in society to bring information, knowledge, lessons, and work experiences from the past to exchange and present for society to learn together through the 3rd National Sexual Health Conference,” Dr. Sirikiat said.
The Director of the Office of Health Risk Factor Control Support, ThaiHealth, added that one of the interesting sub-discussions of this conference is the communication of the policy that pregnant students must be able to study in Symposium 1.5, inviting representatives from educational institutions to exchange methods of organizing systems to help pregnant students receive appropriate and continuous education. It is believed that these experiences will be very beneficial to educational institutions nationwide, allowing them to review methods suitable for the context within the institution.
Another interesting room is Symposium 3.5, working with parents in 3 settings: schools, communities, and workplaces, “Positive Communication at Home Can Prevent All Problems.” For this room, Dr. Sirikiat said that it stems from the belief that if children or teenagers at home have someone who understands, listens, cares, and can rely on when facing problems, it is the starting point for reducing various problems, especially regarding sex. But how to reach parents is the key issue of this matter. Participants will hear experiences working with parents, starting from working with parents of educational institutions, parents in urban and rural communities, and parents who are employees in workplaces.
ThaiHealth and the Ministry of Public Health support youth having the right to learn about sexual education, organizing continuous national sexual health conferences
For the main umbrella of this year’s conference, it consists of 3 issues: 1. Driving strategy to sustainable practice, 2. Sexuality and sexual health of teenagers, and 3. Innovations and new knowledge in operations. There are 4 plenary sessions along with more than 40 important topics (Symposium). But not to be missed is the opening ceremony on January 28 at 10:00-12:00 with a special lecture on “Thailand and Driving Teenage Pregnancy Issues” by General Patthampong Prathomphat, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister’s Office, and enjoy the youth power show by youth leaders from various regions, as well as enjoy creative activities at the “Learning Area: Community Action for Sexual Health.” Those interested in attending the conference can register at goo.gl/oronKx. For inquiries, call 097-0454410 or email Se**************@gm***.com.
Source: thaipost.net