“I am for sex without a guilty conscience”: Health launches campaign to prevent sexually transmitted infections among young people | Society

The idea that using a condom reduces desire, intercourse as the centre of sexual relations, that there is not really a discussion about what sex is and what it can mean, that it is unsafe in schools or institutions and that in the family it depends on each family, the lack of awareness that there is a risk of contracting different infections or the changing perception of gender in new generations, that relationships start earlier each time or that sometimes it is not easy to have a condom at 16. The cocktail of reasons why there has been an increase in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the last 20 years, “especially chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhea”, is wide-ranging and, according to Pedro Gullon, CEO of Health Public, “clearly” intersects along the axes of social inequality “such as gender or race”.

According to Gullon, understanding this cocktail and the inequalities, the context and the changing realities is the key to combating rising infections and it is with this approach that a new STI prevention campaign among adolescents and adults was presented this Monday morning. The Ministry of Health materialized in a commercial of exactly 15 seconds. A duration that symbolizes who it is aimed at and in what context. “I am sex that is talked about, I am sex without guilt, I am sex that respects, I am sex without infections, I am safe sex. Against sexually transmitted infections, I speak, I inform, I protect myself,” says this video.

“He talks about the value of communication when he says: ‘I belong to the speaking gender.’ About sexual freedom when he says: ‘I have sex without guilt.’ Empathy and the value of respect when he says: ‘I belong to the respectful gender.’ To ultimately align with the values ​​we want from prevention and self-care messages when he says: ‘I belong to the gender that does not have infections,'” explained Inmaculada Puig, Deputy Director General of Citizen Services, during the presentation.

This problem, which is accompanied by the increase in sexually transmitted diseases among the young population, is not only present in Spain, but also alarmed the European Union and the United States a few months ago. The lack of use of condoms is one of the main reasons for the increase in data. During the presentation, Victoria Hernando, from the National Center for Epidemiology, outlined part of the latter Report on epidemiological surveillance of sexually transmitted infections -from 2022 and published at the end of January last year, prepared by the Ministry of Health and the Carlos III Health Institute-. The number of gonorrhea cases has doubled compared to 2020, with “23,333 cases reported” in 2022; the number of chlamydia cases has increased by 266% since 2016, with “26,518 cases reported”; and from 734 reported syphilis cases in 2002, they had risen to “8,141” two decades later.

In a statement last March, the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) noted an “alarming increase in cases of syphilis, gonorrhoea and chlamydia” and spoke of “the urgent need to improve prevention, access to testing and effective treatment to address this public health problem”. Last year, in Europe, the number of cases of gonorrhoea increased by 48%, syphilis by 34% and chlamydia by 16%.

Mar Vera, of the STI Research Group of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology and doctor at the Sandoval Clinic in Madrid, a monograph on sexually transmitted diseases, also provided data from the United States: “A group of adolescents and young people aged 15 to 24, which, despite representing only 27% of the total population, carries half of the 20 million new infections diagnosed each year.” This problem is widespread throughout the world, and the elimination of HIV and STIs is one of the World Health Organization’s Sustainable Development Goals, to which Spain has committed through the Strategic Plan for the Prevention and Control of HIV and STIs in Spain, deadline of 2030.

To achieve this, Vera says, there is a key question: “Emphasize the importance of sexual education as the most important behavioral intervention to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.” But she also lists numerous measures that should be taken not only by health workers but also by young people: “Educate about transmission routes (mainly sexual), insist on condom use, the risks of use, social networks. Make this target group aware that most STIs are invisible and try to send positive messages about sexual health, not about infections but rather about promoting sexual health, and generally talk about STIs as part of routine check-ups, routine screenings and encouragement talks so that they can discuss the actions they want to take. No fear, no stigma, no shame.”