Health chief urges free contraception for teens
IN A bid to prevent premature pregnancy among Thai teens, Health Department chief Dr Wachira Pengchan is calling for girls aged 10 to 20 to receive a free contraceptive implant at any of the nationwide medical facilities registered for Universal Coverage (UC) under the National Health Security Office (NHSO).
Wachira said the high number of teenage pregnancies, including serial births, was of great concern to his department, hence the support for contraceptive implants and intrauterine devices.
“The contraceptive implant is very effective – even more than birth control pills, which the person could forget to take,” he said.
About 100,000 Thai teenagers give birth each year, with about 16 per cent of those from a second or further pregnancy.
The department has spent the past three years campaigning for the use of contraceptive implants among teenage mothers and so far, 70 per cent of them have had the implants, he said.
Wachira added that the Prevention and Solution of the Adolescent Pregnancy Problem Act 2016 was in place to help reduce the number of pregnant teens.
This law enabled young people to receive key benefits. These included a requirement for schools to provide sex education as appropriate and to train teachers to teach the subject and assist pregnant teens so they could continue to study and receive social welfare.