Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - October 12, 2003
Aphaluck Bhatiasevi
Little evaluation had been made of the effectiveness of contraceptive pills and possible adverse health effects, the report found. The survey conducted among university students in Bangkok showed that only 36% of students who used emergency contraception knew that it should not be used to induce abortion and only 35% knew that it was less effective than other methods in preventing pregnancy.
Use of emergency contraceptive pills seems to be one of the most common means of contraception among young adults, it said.
The survey showed that as many as 86% of students used less than four tablets a month. Half knew that pregnancy may occur even if they did use emergency contraceptives correctly.
Niyada Kiatying-Angsulee of Chulalongkorn University's faculty of pharmaceutical sciences, who conducted the research, said despite such high use of contraceptives, authorities had not evaluated the long-term effects they could have on the health of users.
Her study, which was presented to the Asia-Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health attended by 1,500 delegates from 41 countries, showed that there was no specific policy on registration of contraceptives and that legal requirements are not tight enough. Ms Niyada said many people took more than four contraceptive pills a month, so were misusing them.
In many cases men bought contraceptives for girlfriends, to deny responsibility for any pregnancy. They were often used as an alternative to protected sex.
John Cleland, director of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine's Population Centre, said the World Health Organisation should do more to advocate sexual and reproductive health.
"It's disappointing to see a decline in international funding for reproductive and sexual health. There is a worrying trend to separate HIV/Aids from other reproductive health problems," he said.
Mr Cleland said 4.4% of international funding went into sexual reproductive health in developing countries. "It would be wise if the WHO could take the lead in advocating reproductive and sexual health with sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/Aids," said Mr Cleland, adding that such advocacy could help disease prevention efforts. "It would be easier to tell young people to use condoms to prevent pregnancy rather than branding it to HIV/Aids prevention," he said.
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