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Sex starts early in India now
September 16, 2004
Adolescents in India are having sex more often and at a younger age. Rape is
also common in this age group.
These findings are part of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's India
Country Report on Population and Development.
In the chapter on Adolescent Reproductive Health and Development, the report
says: "Sexual relations among adolescents tend to start early, involve multiple
partners and often are casual. They are also characterized by lack of
contraception or condom use, and occasionally involve coercion and
non-consensual experiences."
The report further says that misconceptions aside, a large number of teenagers
don't even know the correct way of using a condom. "Young people between the
ages of 10 and 25 years make up for 50 per cent of new HIV infections," it
concludes chillingly.
Only 59 per cent adolescents know about condoms and 49 per cent about
contraceptive pills, the report says. "Instead of asking adolescents not to
have sex, we have to give them information on how to protect themselves," says
Anjali Gopalan, director, Naz Foundation India. "Children are not stupid, they
will protect themselves if they know how."
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