Half A Million Cases Of STIs In UK

Part of the problem of looking at statistics for STIs is that often higher numbers are related to better testing and reporting methods. But either way, having half a million cases of STIs in the UK is something that needs to be addressed.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) just released a report saying that this is a rise of 12,000 since 2008 and ten percent of those under 25 are diagnosed with something else within a year.

The results are not surprising and follow the trends that we already know about.

People under 25 are considered to be at the greatest risk and have the highest rates of STIs being reported. The young women are most affected and those between fifteen and twenty-four account for over two-thirds of STIs being reported.

A doctor for the HPA says that this highlights the vulnerability of young women. Without treatment STIs can lead to infertility and other problems.

I think instead of looking at the vulnerability of young people and young women, we should be instead looking and the naivety, ignorance, and sometimes stupidity of young people.

If they don’t know there is a danger they won’t protect themselves. If they know there’s a danger they then need to know how to use and negotiate the use of condoms. And finally they have to want to use them and be capable of it.

Warnings about infertility and the rise of STIs is not going to achieve this because young people either don’t care or think it won’t affect them.

What young people need is skills. They need to be taught exactly how to protect themselves and how to negotiate condom usage within their relationships. They need to learn about how alcohol affects decision-making and how to manage this.

This means that the UK has to get over its prudish attitude to sex and teach these young people very specific skills. We also need to teach the teachers and the parents how to deal with these issues and how best to help the young people before it’s too late.

None of this is news and it’s what we’ve been talking about for years. I have to wonder, are we going to have this argument indefinitely? Or will someone take the initiative and actually teach the young people what they need and want to know in order to have healthy sex lives?