A rather worrying survey by Public Health England (PHE) has revealed that over half of sexually active young people aged between 16 and 24 do not use a condom the first time they sleep with a new partner. The survey was conducted across a sample of 2,000 people and even more worryingly, it revealed that one in ten had never in fact even used a condom before. Reasons cited for this behaviour vary and cover a range of issues:-
- Some, when questioned, thought that carrying a condom was actually an indicator of promiscuity or making an assumption which gave the wrong impression to their partner
- Many are simply unaware of the real serious consequences that STIs can bring
- Talking about sexual health and safe practices seems to have an element of taboo amongst young people
- Condom use is associated with avoiding the risk of pregnancy which means if a girl is on the pill, there would seem to be no need to use a condom. Only 29% of the sample survey said they used a condom in order to protect against STIs.
- Young people have a different risk perception, the police will tell you that which is why the accident rate is so high in new drivers, something the government is taking proactive steps to deal with. And also why spitfire pilots in the war were so young – give them another ten years and they would have had a totally different reaction to what they were being asked to do
- It feels nicer without
- You can treat STIs easily
It is ironic really as many psychologists will tell you that young people have never been so risk-averse until it comes to their health seemingly. Those in the medical profession think that the only way to really get the message across is to highlight the impact of STIs in graphic detail, a tactic that has worked well with smoking and led to a reduction in the overall number of smokers.
Good, straightforward and plain-speaking sexual education is the way to go, accessible to all and without the stigma associated with STIs. In 2017, PHE launched a sexual health campaign to promote the use of condoms amongst young people and highlight how they can prevent STIs and stop them from spreading. The teen pregnancy rate has halved in the last decade so that message has clearly got through, now its time to send another one, loud and clear. Over half of the rate of diagnoses for gonorrhoea and Chlamydia are accounted for by the under 25s so the need to take some action is evident.
What are the medical impacts of STIs?
Many STIs are easily treated but a lot of young people are unaware of the fact that some STIs can be silent and symptomless and that many can actually cause long-term and severe health problems. These are the angles s that sexual educators need to tackle.
Untreated gonorrhoea and Chlamydia can cause pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) in women which can be very painful and ultimately cause infertility. PID is essentially an infection of the upper genital tract which includes the ovaries, womb and fallopian tubes. In men, it can result in swollen or painful testicles. PIC can also cause ectopic pregnancies – when the embryo develops outside the uterus. Gonorrhoea is a particular worry as it is becoming increasingly resistant to the use of antibiotics with concerns amongst healthcare professionals that it may not even be treatable in the future.
PHE entitled their campaign, ‘Protect against STIs’ and intends to highlight that some of these infections are symptomless. The idea is to get the message out there as one interesting point drawn from the PHE survey revealed that condom use is rarely seen in sex scenes in films and television programmes. The campaign targeted young people digitally and gets STI sufferers amongst this age group to detail their experiences about having an STI. Emojis were used to not only make it relevant but to hide the identity of the speakers. The campaign was supported by durex. It may take some time for the message to filter through and for STI rates amongst young people to start to fall.
