Safer sex stressed at Hanoi conference
A two-day conference in Hanoi to discuss a reproductive health program for youths called for changing sexual behavior of Vietnamese youths, most of whom lacked knowledge of safe sex.
The conference, which ended Saturday and was presided over by Nguyen Thanh Phong, standing secretary of the Youth Union's central committee, heard that 35 to 70 percent of Vietnamese youths who had sex with prostitutes seldom used condoms.
Since early 2004 the program has provided basic knowledge on reproductive health, safe sex, abortion, and sexually transmitted diseases to rural and urban youths across the country.
The conference also discussed a project under the program, ratified by the Prime Minister in May this year and managed by the HCMC Communist Youth Union in cooperation with the EU, United Nations Population Fund, and non-governmental organizations.
The US$780,000 project to address youths' sexual behavior is set to be implemented in Hanoi, Hoa Binh, and Hai Phong in the north, Hue, Da Nang, Khanh Hoa in the central region, and HCMC in the south.
The conference was held in the wake of World AIDS Day, December 1. Unsafe sex is one of the main causes of AIDS.
Thanh Nien - December 6, 2005.
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