“I am for guilt-free sex”: Health launches campaign to prevent sexually transmitted infections among young people | Society

The idea that putting on a condom reduces pleasure, intercourse as the center of sexual relationships, what is not really said about what sex is and what it can mean, if it is unsafe in schools or institutions, and that in the family it depends on each family, the lack of perception that there is a risk of contracting various infections, or the changing perception of gender in new generations, that relationships start earlier every time, or that sometimes it is not easy to have a condom when you are 16 years old. The cocktail of reasons why there has been a rise in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) over the past 20 years, “particularly chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhea,” is broad and, according to Pedro Gullon, CEO of Health Public, “clearly overlapping” along axes of social inequality ” such as gender or race.

According to Gullon, understanding this cocktail and the inequalities, context and changing realities is key to combating rising infections, and it is with this approach that a new STI prevention campaign among adolescents and adults was unveiled this Monday morning. Ministry of Health, materialized in an advertisement lasting exactly 15 seconds. A duration that symbolizes who it is addressed to 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 myself, I protect myself,” sounds in this video.

“He talks about the value of communication when he says, ‘I am a member of the speaking sex.’ About sexual freedom when he says, “I have sex without guilt.” Empathy and the value of respect when he says, “I am of the respecting gender,” to ultimately align with the values ​​we want from prevention and self-care messages when he says, “I am of the gender that not infections,” explained Inmaculada Puig, Deputy Director General of the Citizens Service, during the presentation.

This problem, associated with the increase in the incidence of STIs among the young population, does not exist only in Spain, but also alerted the European Union as well as the United States several months ago. Failure to use condoms is one of the most important 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 Institute of Health -. Gonorrhea doubled 2020 numbers, with “23,333 cases reported in 2022”; Chlamydia numbers have increased by 266% since 2016, with “26,518 cases reported”; and from 734 cases of syphilis reported in 2002, they had risen to “8,141” two decades later.

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

Mar Vera, from the STI research group of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, and a 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 years , although they make up only 27% of the total population, they carry half of the 20 million new infections that are diagnosed each year.” This problem is widespread throughout the world, and the elimination of HIV and STIs is one of the sustainable development goals set by the World Health Organization and which Spain is committed to through the Strategic Plan for the Prevention and Control of HIV and STIs in Spain, Key Date 2030.

To do this, Vera says, there is a key question: “Emphasize the importance of sex education as the most important behavioral intervention for the prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.” But he also mentioned numerous measures that should be taken not only by health workers, but also by young people: “Inform about modes of transmission (mainly sexual), insist on the use of condoms, 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 infections, but rather promote sexual health, and generally talk about STIs as part of routine clinic, routine screening, encouragement. conversation so they can discuss exposing the measures they want to take. No fear, no stigma, no shame.”