All the way on Valentine's Day

Thai youths are more likely express their love with gifts and roses on Valentine's Day than have sex, according to the findings of a Suan Dusit Poll released yesterday.

The findings were released at the "White Valentine Design Your Love" press conference, which was attended by Public Health Minister Wittaya Kaewparadai and HIV/Aids control and prevention agencies.

The survey, conducted by Rajabhat Suan Dusit Institute between January 17 and 31, asked 1,008 Thais aged 15 to 24 about sex and how they would be marking Valentine's Day.

Roses and romance

About 26 per cent said they would give a gift to their partner, 13 per cent would give roses and 10 per cent wanted a romantic dinner for two. Only 5 per cent admitted that sex was part of their plans.

The survey also covered the use of pornography; 34 per cent of respondents said they had visited porn websites while 31 per cent said they had used pornography during sex or masturbation.

Using condoms

When asked how they protected themselves from sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), only 53 per cent said they used condoms.

Thirtyone per cent admit¬ted to having caught an STD, and 62 per cent of them had sought out medical treatment at a hospital or clinic. But 6 per cent admitted to buying drugs over the counter for selftreatment.

Wittaya said that unsafe sex risked infection by HIV/Aids but also unwanted pregnancies.

To date there have been 345,196 cases of HIV/Aids in Thailand since the first infection was reported here in 1984, with 93,034 deaths. About 12,000 new cases are expected this year, most of them the result of unsafe sex.