When five out of every 100 girls aged 15-19 in a country say they have been pregnant at one point in their lives, you probably want to sit up and listen. And then you want to do more. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon did.
"We cannot ignore the facts," he said at the start of a recent high-level meeting on young people in New York. "Many young people are sexually active, and because of this, they may face risks to their health, including sexual violence."
Many people assume that all young people have access to information, that most are likely to stay in school, that they postpone entry into the labour force until they finish a degree and that they delay marriage and childbearing for when they are ready.
However, this is not true for all adolescents and youth across the world. In fact, many of these issues are still a major challenge for the majority of young people in developing countries. So the need to invest in young people is more urgent than ever.
All governments, including Thailand's, need to make available comprehensive sexuality education as well as confidential sexual and reproductive health services that will help young people to make responsible choices regarding their sexuality.
Thailand historically has been a regional leader in promoting voluntary family planning for married adults and HIV prevention, but could do better in addressing the reproductive health and rights of unmarried youth.
As social mores and behaviour evolve, there are signs that Thailand's policies and programmes are not keeping up with the times in addressing young people's needs.
The average age of marriage in Thailand is now 26, so it is easy to see that a long period exists between the age when young people become sexually active and the time they get married. Those intervening years are when they are most at risk of unintended pregnancy, forced sex and sexually transmitted infections including HIV.
Administrative records show an increase in births to teenage mothers in the past decade. Health experts believe there has been an even more significant increase in abortions among young women.
There is also evidence of increasing sexually transmitted infections prevalence and of persistently high HIV infection rates among key groups of young people. Even though sexuality education is an established part of the school curriculum in Thailand, researchers have found there is widespread ignorance or misinformation among young Thais with regard sexual issues.
More effective sexuality education would teach them how to better protect themselves.
These findings imply a need to strengthen fact-based and non-judgmental teaching materials and to better train teachers in dealing with topics they themselves may be uncomfortable with.
To make health services youth-friendly, workers need training in providing care to young people without discrimination or judgement, ensure confidentiality, and offer services at hours and places where young people are likely to show up.
To guarantee that such changes take hold, the government should consider pushing for the approval of the pending Reproductive Health Protection Bill to explicitly address the reproductive health needs of adolescents and youth. And young people themselves need to be meaningfully involved in revising laws, programmes and policies.
During my recent visit to Bangkok I was impressed with the high level of commitment to reproductive health displayed by the government, civil society organisations, the private sector and society at large.
This is good, and by strengthening support for young people, including actions to protect their reproductive and sexual health, Thailand could provide a positive example for its regional neighbours.
Commendably, the government plays a key role on health issues within Asean. It could signal greater commitment to adolescents and youth if their needs were included in discussions at the Asean health ministers meeting, which Thailand will host in Phuket this July.
Looking ahead to the planned economic integration of Asean countries in 2015, Thailand's leadership in this regard will become increasingly important.
Integration is likely to attract large numbers of migrant workers to Thailand, including young people from countries with low reproductive health awareness.
Thailand needs to prepare for this eventuality and anticipate the additional demand for youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services.
In the interim, it should support the provision of information and services to all young people, irrespective of their migratory status. It is time to invest in young people and to recognise that they need more information, not less, along with education and counselling to protect their health and their future, as is their human right.
This story was first published in Bangkok Post.
