TAIPEI (TVBS News) — The Action Alliance on Basic Education (國教行動聯盟) on Wednesday (Jan. 15) highlighted a concerning rise in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among adolescents in Taiwan, citing statistics from the Ministry of Health and Welfare's (MOHW, 衛福部) Centers for Disease Control (CDC, 疾管署). The group called for immediate government action to launch a prevention program addressing adolescent sexual health.
The CDC reported a significant increase in gonorrhea cases among 15 to 19-year-olds from 2012 to 2023, with male cases rising from 111 to 756 and female cases from 26 to 222. Alarmingly, in 2023, gonorrhea cases among 10 to 14-year-old females reached 41, compared to just four cases among males of the same age group, underscoring the severity of the issue.
Wang Han-yang (王瀚陽), the alliance's chairman, urged inter-ministerial collaboration to develop a central family education policy and localized sexual health education guidelines. Chen Gau-tzu (陳昭姿), a Taiwan People's Party (TPP, 台灣民眾黨) legislator, emphasized the need for early STD prevention and contraception education, noting societal stigma deters many from seeking medical help.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP, 民主進步黨) legislator Lin Yueh-chin (林月琴) advocated for teaching adolescents accurate sexual knowledge to prevent misconceptions and reduce STD risks, while Kuomintang (KMT, 中國國民黨) legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) advised the government to leverage social education in the information age, suggesting collaboration with influencers and key opinion leaders to promote responsible sexual education.
