VietNamNet Bridge – Around a third of Vietnamese youth today have misconceptions about proper use of condoms and consider their use an improper conduct, said Dr. Nguyen Duc Vinh, vice director of Maternal and Child Health Department under the Ministry of Health.

Vinh added that around 16 percent of young people think condoms are for prostitutes or unfaithful partners. He expressed his concern about unsafe sex and limited knowledge of sex among young men.

Almost 13 percent young people think the right time for reproduction is during a woman’s menstrual cycle and 33 percent claim lack of access to good reproductive healthcare services.
 
A latest survey by the ministry shows that young Vietnamese people reach puberty earlier than normal and have sex with partners at a very young age, even marrying very young.

Their limited knowledge of reproductive and sexual health shows a deficit in education in schools and family.

Vietnam is now in a so-called period of ‘golden population’, with 40 percent of young people between the age group of 10-30. Family planning should focus on unmarried couples who are really in need of consultation of reproductive healthcare and safe sex rather than the 80 percent couples that are married and know about family planning, said Duong Van Dat, head of the reproductive health unit at UNFPA in Vietnam.
 
Parents should connect and make friends with their children to talk freely about safe sex, instead of considering it a sensitive issue and respond negatively or avoid answering related questions. Parents should explain the dangers of unsafe sex and of having sex at an early age, said Dat.

Source: SGGP