HIV has become more prevalent among Taiwanese teens and young adults despite a drop in the total number of infections, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
The number of HIV-positive cases recorded among teens and young adults climbed to 521 last year, from 451 the year before, a 13.3 percent increase, the CDC said at an event in Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) area to promote safe sex among young people during which more than 200 condoms were given away.
More than 90 percent of the young carriers contracted the disease through unsafe sex, the CDC said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
It also found that 60 percent of Taiwanese did not use condoms during their first sexual encounter.
“We therefore want to take this opportunity to promote the importance of using condoms among young people,” Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Shih Wen-yi (施文儀) said, adding that having sex without proper precautions carries the risk of contracting HIV.
Taiwan’s efforts to combat AIDS-related disease has brought the number of new HIV cases down from a peak of 3,380 in 2005 to 1,796 last year, Shih said.
Citing unsafe sex as the main cause of HIV transmission, Chen Ching-hui (陳菁徽), an attending physician in obstetrics and gynecology at Taipei Medical University Hospital, who attended the event, called for young people to use condoms and use them correctly when having sex.
In addition, Chen reminded young adults that using condoms is not only a way to prevent pregnancy, but that it is an effective method of preventing sexually transmitted diseases.
Meanwhile, Lucifer Chu (朱學恆), dubbed a local opinion leader on the Internet, demonstrated the five steps of correctly using condoms and shared tips on carrying them discreetly and without being embarrassed. As a father, Chu also urged parents to be open-minded about their children’s questions about sex.
Don’t think they are too young to understand, he said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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