THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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Udon Thani model a guide for tackling teenage pregnancy, sex issues

Udon Thani model a guide for tackling teenage pregnancy, sex issues

THAILAND has one of the highest levels of teenage pregnancy in the world. A project to tackle this issue was launched in 2013 in the northeast province of Udon Thani, which ranked 40th in the country on a scale of births.

 
The Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) and Udon Thani provincial authorities worked jointly on the project to develop a sustainable and integrated policy to tackle issues of youth sexual health.
Sirikiat Liangkorbkij, who heads the ThaiHealth Health Risk Control II Section, recently took the media to see the pilot area of the “Udon Model” in Nong Saeng district’s Tambon Saeng Sawang.
He said the project over the past three years had focused on developing a tambon-level network to work with local administrative organisations and youth groups. It sought to shift the view that sexuality was a social issue, with health officials being supporters, rather than leaders, to help solve the problem of teenage pregnancies.
The project focused on five aspects: strategic management; comprehensive sex education; creative space; friendly health and social services; mobilising resources and extended results. Youths and children, who were the “target groups”, were able to participate all the way.
These efforts paid off. Many young people changed their attitude, becoming more aware and giving importance to teenage pregnancy issues, Nong Seang Hospital director Dr Seubsiri Bunditpirom said.
She said the number of pregnant teens aged 15-19 in Tambon Saeng Sawang reduced from 55 per 1,000 population in 2014, to 34 per 1,000 this year.
Officials expect the project – Udon Model – will expand to cover the whole province by 2017 and reduce the overall teenage pregnancy rate to under 50 per 1,000 people, she said. In this key policy, district-level agencies served as co-ordinators for public health; that involved local bodies, schools and health units, she explained. 
As part of the project, a youth volunteer group Onson Saeng Sawang (“Caring Saeng Sawang”) was formed to give information on well-being and sex to young people at local schools and groups seen as “at risk”. The topics the group talked about included safe sex, sexually transmitted diseases, and how to use a condom. 
They also provided a training group called Phuyai Jaidee (“Kind adults”) for parents and older people to have better understanding when counselling youth. 
The training stressed that adults – notably parents – should have a “small mouth, big ears and wide-open heart” – “talk less, listen more and be open-minded”, Sirikiat said. 
A 17-year-old male volunteer, Kaewkanda Paengpaen, an Onson Saeng Sawang representative, said he and many friends gathered to provide reproductive health infor-mation to other youths and raise awareness about problems. 
“Besides having a chance to help the community, I also benefit from taking part in this project. From not knowing anything about sexuality, now I have more information I can pass on to others,” said the boy whose feminine personality once alienated him from others. The project let him be himself and have fun while presenting information and eventually being accepted by his companions and the community. 
Phuyai Jaidee attendee Arun Jainongbua said she misunderstood and tended to be very strict with her children. But after undergoing the training, she tried to adjust her attitude and be more open-minded when talking and listening to her children, so the family was more understanding and happier. “We must have the knowledge first so we can talk to them [the children]. We now dare to talk with them about the use of condoms, not just scolding them or just banning them from doing this and that,” Arun said. 
Arun said her youngest son, in Mathayom 1, joined Onson Saeng Sawang’s training so they, the mother and son, found it easier to talk and discuss issues like prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
Tambon Saeng Sawang is one of 10 exemplary tambons in Udon Thani province – which has some 57 tambons in 10 districts – that has propelled the project over the past three years.
The project developed 15 Phuyai Jaidee groups and 35 youth groups in 10 tambons, while also setting up social media channels such as Line chat programme and Facebook to help solve teens’ problems. 
 
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