Better sex education in schools and condom advertising targeted at young people are key to tackling the nation’s sex disease epidemic, according to an expert.
A recent report by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) found that diagnoses of HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Illnesses (STIs) were increasing.
The results for NHS South East Coast, the Strategic Health Authority covering Kent, Surrey and Sussex, reflect the national trends with an increase in HIV diagnoses, particularly among gay men.
The number of people being treated for HIV in 2006 had risen to 3, 246 from 2,942 in the previous year, it found.
A rising number of heterosexual men, particularly those from black ethnic minority communities, are being diagnosed with HIV, the HPA said.
The sexual health of young adults has worsened with the report showing increases in sexually transmitted herpes and warts viruses.
In Kent one in 10 young people screened through the National Chlamydia Screening Programme last year tested positive for the infection, the county’s Teenage Pregnancy Service said.
Ruth Herron, who is the project manager of the service, is leading the drive to halve teen pregnancy rates in the county by 2010.
Much of her work revolves around raising awareness of the dangers of unprotected sex – highlighting the risk of pregnancy and STIs – among Kent’s young people.
She said: “There is a huge wealth of evidence to say we need to up the ante in schools. Young people want more sex education in a structured fashion, regularly repeated and not just a one-off day.
“It needs to start at a younger age. They want it to be less biological and more about relationships, communication and negotiation.”
Part of the strategy’s work has been encouraging schools to deliver better sex and relationship education, she said.
She backed the Independent Advisor Group on Sexual Health and HIV’s recommendation this week for the ban on advertising condoms before the watershed to be lifted.
“The media is very sexualised, there are magazines in easy reach saying ‘who’s sleeping with who’ and there is lots of sexual innuendo in soaps. But they [children] see it without consequence – no one ever gets an infection.
“It is essential we give them good sex education and that parents are responsible and talk to their children about sex. We need to be more open about talking about sex,” she said.
The HPA report recommended that Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) should ensure GUM (sexual health) and HIV clinics worked efficiently to reduce the likelihood of STIs and HIV infections going undiagnosed and untreated.
Mrs Herron said it was essential that PCTs made sure their GUM clinics met the Government set 48-hour targets for appointments.
The quicker the infection is treated it lessens the chances of it being passed on to someone else, she said.
A spokesman for Eastern and Coastal Kent PCT said it had a 100 per cent achievement record of meeting the target.
In Kent there are currently 677 people being treated for HIV. In east Kent, the PCT said the amount had risen from 161 in 2005 to 212 in 2007.
A spokesman said more people were coming forward to be tested but that only accounted for some of the increase.
A nurse who works with HIV patients said: “We work closely with colleagues at the teenage pregnancy service and our health promotion service to focus on young people and those most at risk from STIs and HIV infection.
“We have a policy of working to access vulnerable people and engage with those most at risk from HIV.”
She said the focus includes the most at risk groups identified in the national report but also men in general who traditionally have a poor record of using NHS services.
Mrs Herron said the groups most likely to become pregnant and have unprotected sex were young people with no aspirations.
“It is very closely aligned with deprivation. Alcohol, binge drinking is a huge problem. We are teaching them to be safe, giving them the skills and self esteem to make good choices,” she added.
If you want to find out more about sex, relationships, STIs, HIV and get free advice visit www.foryoungpeople.co.uk.
POSTED: 01/12/2007 09:00:00
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