OVERSEAS HELP
In a bid to find solutions, a Thai delegation visited Britain in November 2012, looking to emulate programmes there.
The number of babies born to teen mothers in England dropped by 27% between 2000 and 2010 and overall conception by teens fell by 25% between 1999 and 2010. Some areas, like Hackney in East London, showed reductions of over 40%.
This was due largely to a 1999 government plan aiming to halve England's under 18 conception rate by 2010. The plan used local grants and guidelines, government funds to improve access to contraceptives and media campaigns to raise awareness.
By contrast, Thailand issued a population strategy plan in 2012 that focuses on reducing teen births but does not include either target reduction goals or concrete ways to do so.
There are university-led sexual health awareness programs, and the UNFPA is trying to raise awareness through both civil and private networks. Yet the most fundamental measure is the hardest to achieve: changing attitudes.
"This is about trusting the moral standards of those young people whom we have invested years of education and nurturing - our children," said Caspar Peek, UNFPA Representative for Thailand and Country Director for Malaysia.
We need everyone ... to see this as a challenge to development and not just something bad that happens to teenagers because they do 'bad' things.
(Source: Bangkok Post, Breakingnews, Thailand struggles with teen pregnancy, 8 Mar 2013, Reuters News agency, Thomson Reuters, link)