Earlier this month the National Assembly for Wales launched a sexual health awareness campaign for the general population in an effort to tackle the continuing rise in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Wales.
Following a similar pattern witnessed across the rest of the UK, rates of some STIs have risen sharply in recent years in Wales. New cases of chlamydia and gonorrhoea have doubled in the five years between 1996 and 2000; chalmydia rose from 1150 cases in 1996 to 2388 new cases in 2000 and gonorrhoea rose from 208 cases in 1996 to 473 new cases in 2000.
The campaign forms part of the measures outlined in the National Assembly’s consultation document A Strategic Framework for Promoting Sexual Health in Wales. A two million pound package for health was announced on April 9th this year, and an additional 250,000 pounds was drawn upon to implement this campaign and a targeted HIV prevention campaign for gay men through the CHAPS Cymru partnership, co-ordinated by the Terrence Higgins Trust.
The STI campaign is expected to run for the next two years.
The STI campaign is aimed at 16 to 30 year olds, the group most disproportionately affected by STIs.
A series of information posters will be placed in the toilet areas of over 270 clubs and pubs as well as the universities and colleges across Wales. Suzanne McKeown, sexual health specialist at the National Assembly explained that “it is a highly targeted method of getting information across as the venues have been selected to match the demographic profile of the campaign’s target audience.”
The campaign uses factual, non-judgmental language to facilitate young people to make their own healthy and informed choices about their sexual health.
The draft sexual health strategy for Wales was published for consultation back in January 2000. The post-consultation action plan was published in November last year and a progress report published in July this year.
In the progress report the National Assembly affirmed its commitment to reducing the incidence and prevalence of STIs in Wales by developing this two year sexual health awareness campaign and providing more money to health authorities to ensure the wider availability of condoms through their local sexual health strategies.
New HIV infections in Wales are predominantly concentrated among gay men. HIV incidence has remained stable over the past fifteen years with between 30 and 45 new infections being diagnosed annually.