Thailand's safe sex clinic introduced on Valentine's Day

BANGKOK, February 14 (TNA) - The Department of Disease Control, under the Thai Ministry of Public Health, introduced Tuesday, the Saint Valentine's Day, a safe sex clinic for people seeking prevention and care for chronic sexual infections and related diseases, including HIV/AIDS, other sexual transmitted diseases and even tuberculosis. The department's Deputy Director-General, M.D. Somsak Akkasilp, said when opening the first safe sex clinic near Bangkhen district office in Bangkok that a recent poll showed local youths had sex for the first time as early as 14-15 years old and only 52 per cent of them used condoms, prompting his department to have launched a condom campaign to promote safe sex among the youths. M.D. Somsak acknowledged that his department could not, however, provide free condoms for all due to a budget constraint, but for only those in risk groups who are totally provided 100 million pieces of condoms annually. To solve the problem, the senior Thai health official encouraged parents and teachers to provide first-hand information on safe sexuality to their children. (TNA)