Kids txt 4 free condoms

My Thoughts

 

I say better safe than very very sorry! I would rather my

daughter and son be protected than not. If they want to

have sex, they will so why not make sure they are protected.

No one likes to think that their kids are sexually active as we

know how emotional a sexual relationship is and how unprepared

teenagers are for that level of emotion and experience. If you say

NO, then they will just go and do it! So why not sit down, tell them

how you feel, why you feel, give them the condoms and hopefully they

will make the right choice and if they don't then at the very least, they

will come home not pregnant and without a STD! If parents aren't willing

to sit down and share with their teenager then at least the teens are

being helped to stay safe by this promotion!!!

 

 

 

Shannon Molloy | October 24, 2007

Queensland teenagers celebrating the end of high school will be able to order free condoms by text message as part of a national sexual health campaign.

Marie Stopes International provides sexual and reproductive healthcare services in a number of countries, and for the next month will operate the SMS service to coincide with Schoolies celebrations.

The organisation's acting CEO Jill Michaelson said there was still a stigma amongst young people associated with buying condoms from supermarkets and pharmacies. Statistics show about 20 per cent of young people have had unprotected sex.

"A lot of young people are quite self-conscious about buying condoms and some just don't have the money to do it," Ms Michaelson said.

By sending their details to 19-SEX-TXT, young people will receive two condoms in a discreet white envelope - just in time for Schoolies Week. "We're coming into a period where young people are finishing school and wanting to have fun, and we want to make sure they have a way of being informed about appropriate sexual practices."As we know, most teenagers these days use text messaging to communicate, so we felt this was a really good way to get through to that particular demographic."

Family Planning Queensland spokesperson Vivienne Wynter applauded the initiative and said it was essential to explore other innovative ways to distribute safe sex messages."There are about 20 per cent of young people who are reporting having unprotected sex," Ms Wynter said."The good news is that the vast majority of them are protecting themselves, but there is still a percentage that isn't always."

Queensland has one of the highest rates of HIV infection increase in the country, and the number of sexually transmitted infections is rising across the board.The latest statistics show that more than half of the 47,000 national notifications of Chlamydia infection in 2006, about half were in the 15 to 24 age group."The tourist areas of the Gold Coast and far-north Queensland have slightly higher rates of infection, which is consistent with the theory that sometimes people engage in risky sexual behaviour when they're on holidays."

Combine young people, alcohol, warm weather and the beach - it doesn't take a rocket scientist to calculate the end result.

"There have been anecdotal reports that there's sometimes an increased demand for emergency contraception (around Schoolies Week). "And national figures showed that one quarter of sexually active students were drunk or high during their last sexual encounter.Ms Michaelson blamed the "head in the sand" mentality on a lack of wide-spread and consistent sexual health education."(The statistics) are very concerning, and we need to make sure that our sexual health programs are nationalised and get through to everybody."

Family Planning Queensland is the main provider of sexual education in Queensland schools, but Ms Wynter said it was lucky to reach five per cent of the school population."There are some good programs out there being run by all sorts of Christian and other organisations," she said."However the evidence suggests to us that the majority of young people aren't getting the comprehensive sexuality education that's provided to young people in other countries around the world."

A recent research study conducted by Marie Stopes found 70 per cent of respondents had never had a sexual health check."If you're going to have sex you really need to use some form of protection, and condoms really are the best way to prevent pregnancy and STIs."If someone is sexually active it's important they get checked on an annual basis at least."

Ms Wynter said national statistics showed that young people were sexually active, with half of Year 12 students and a quarter of Year 10 students reporting having had sex."Young people really need to get the message about protecting themselves from STIs as well as unplanned pregnancies," she said."This year there's a new book being given to school-leavers throughout the state called 'Street Smart' and Family Planning Queensland have written a chapter giving comprehensive information on sexual health."

Marie Stopes International is expecting a good response to the organisation's free condom initiative from south-east Queensland teenagers in the lead up to Schoolies Week."We've always put free condoms in the schoolies bags in Queensland, so we think there could be a good take-up of the text offer."

The organisation also runs another text-based program that provides sexual health advice to predominantly young people.The free condom campaign will run until November 15, but the organisation may look at extending it if it proves successful.