| Project Name | Research on Thai Child Boxers |
| Faculty/Department | Advanced Diagnostic Imaging Center (AIMC), Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University |
| Background and Significance | As children's boxing is a professional sport with monetary compensation, the participation in the sport is considered to be child labor, and therefore, illegal. The US Department of Labor has stated that the sport of boxing with children under the age of twelve is considered to be child labor at its worst. This in turn makes Thailand, according to the Trafficking in Persons Report, a 'Tier 3' country: a country whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards to protect human trafficking and are not making significant efforts to do so. In this project physicians, academics, and child protection networks work with groups of child boxers and child non-boxers from similar financial and domestic backgrounds to study the impact of how boxing can impact a child's health. |
| Study Group | Study groups include child boxers, and non-child boxers from similar backgrounds. |
| Purpose | To study the differences of brain development between children who have boxed (335 people) compared to non-child boxers (252 people) who come from similar financial and domestic backgrounds. The results from research shows that children who have participating in boxing while under the age of fifteen has had impact on brain development. |
| Sponsors | Advanced Diagnostic Imaging Center (AIMC) and the Child Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Research Center (CSIP), Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital |
| Related Departments | Advanced Diagnostic Imaging Center (AIMC), and the Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital |
| Related Stakeholders | The Professional Boxing Association of Thailand, and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand |
| Level of Cooperation | Nationwide |
| Project Results | Research results were presented to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand, enabling the Thai government to rewrite the Thai Boxing Act of 1999 (2542 BE) to protect the brain health of children and to promote Muay Thai as a safe sport for children of all ages. |
| Related Links | https://mahidol.ac.th/th/2018/rama-boxing |
| http://csip.org/wordpress/category/มวยเด็ก/ | |
| Related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) | 3, 16 |
