Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - January 25, 2006
Apinya Wipatayotin
Sirapong Charoenkusal, deputy principal of Lanna Polytechnical College, a private school, said more than 5,000 condoms had been received by the school for free distribution to students in the years before 2005, when none was given at all by the ministry due to budget constraints.
"Currently, we have to rely on ourself to protect our students from the deadly disease," Mr Sirapong said.
The school was the first in Chiang Mai to have provided safe-sex counselling and free condoms to its students in 1995. It has about 4,000 students, mostly male.
The school's health consultant said the condom shortage and lack of budget would set back HIV/Aids prevention activities and put young people at greater risk of contracting HIV/Aids.
Teenagers felt more at ease obtaining condoms provided at school than buying them from convenience stores, he added.
A 15-year-old female student expressed concern over the Aids prevention budget shortage.
"The condom shortage at our school has made it difficult for us to protect ourselves from sexual diseases and unwanted pregnancies," she said.
"I feel more relaxed getting condoms at school. I don't want to walk into a shop to buy them."
She also wanted the school to continue with its safe-sex counselling service.
"At least we would learn how to protect ourselves from the [Aids] disease," she said, adding that the provision of condoms with safe-sex advice was better than setting up condom-vending machines in school.
Giving youngsters easy access to condoms, however, has become a controversial issue in the country. Opponents say the practice is tantamount to encouraging young people to be promiscuous.
Disease Control Department chief Thawat Suntrajarn said this year's budget cut was the biggest ever experienced by the department since its launch of the HIV/Aids prevention programme.
With such a small budget, he said, it was virtually impossible for the department to reach its HIV/Aids control target.
The department aims to reduce the number of new infections to 7,500 in 2008 and 6,000 in 2010.
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