25 percent of young Mexicans do not use condoms

Mexico City, Dec 3 (IANS/EFE) One out of every four young Mexicans do not use condoms because they do not like them, show the results of a new poll by the Mexican Youth Institute, or Imjuve.

The National Youth Survey found that even though 95 percent of males and 89 percent of females said they were aware of birth control devices, 25 percent of both the female and male respondents said they did not use condoms because sexual intercourse “does not feel the same”.

In six out of every 10 couples, there was a joint decision to use some type of birth control, including condoms, while 15 percent agreed not to use birth control, Imjuve said.

Some 59 percent of respondents said they had active sex lives, of whom 63 percent reported using birth control and 36 percent said they did not.

The finding is significant because 90 percent of recent HIV cases in Mexico involved people who had unprotected sex, Imjuve said.

The spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is still being dealt with as an epidemic in Mexico, where the majority of cases involve men who had sex with other men.

Some 46 percent of the respondents said they used some type of birth control the first time they had sex, and 87 percent of these respondents identified condoms as the method used.

Birth control use, including condoms, falls as people get older and have sex with only one partner.

In terms of number of sexual partners, only 37 percent of respondents said they had had more than two.

–IANS/EFE