Mexico - Sexual health expert Adriana Eréndira Vega said last week that condom use among Mexican adolescents is rising.

"Radio and television programs dealing with sexuality and the introduction of sex education in schools are two important contributors to this positive trend," Eréndira Vega said. "The emergence of sexuality topics in newspapers and on television as well as large-scale public health and advertising campaigns has encouraged widespread discussion of condom use."

A recent study on State of Mexico Autonomous University, nursing students showed that 50% of the respondents see health as the most important benefit of contraceptives. Likewise, half of the respondents said the media played a significant role in their decision to use contraceptives at the beginning of their sexual activity.

More than three quarters said that friends had encouraged them to use contraceptives.

Over half said that money wasn’t a factor in their decision, though the same number believed that marital status could have some influence.

Sexuality and sexual health can be confusing for adolescents as they struggle to interpret a mix of messages from school, the media, peers, and family, Eréndira Vega said.

According to the The United Nations Population Fund, 97% of young people between the ages of 15 and 19 know of at least one from of contraception; however, more than half have unprotected sex their first time.

The Health Secretariat estimates that 17.4% of babies in Mexico are born to mothers under 20, of which 60 to 80% are unplanned.