“I’m for Safe Sex”, a new campaign to prevent infection…

According to the latest National Center for Epidemiology study, more than 20% of new gonorrhea diagnoses are in people under 25 years of age; In the case of chlamydia, this percentage exceeds 37%.

The Director General of the Office of Public Health and Health Equity, Pedro Gullon, presented this Monday, June 10, the new campaign of the Ministry of Health for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among young people.

This campaign to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among young people is called “I’m Safer Sex” and aims to make STIs visible among the young population, promoting prevention, self-care and individual responsibility for one’s own sexual health. health and it’s the people they interact with.

Gullon stressed that the priority is to prevent these infections from becoming a major public health problem in 2030. In this sense, he said that in recent years the situation has become more complicated and we have been growing for 20 years. “There are more vulnerable populations,” and we need to focus on these groups, he stressed.

Julia del Amo, Director of the Department for the Fight against HIV, STIs, Viral Hepatitis and Tuberculosis, emphasized that “this campaign is part of the strategic plan for the prevention and control of HIV and STIs in Spain for 2021-2030, a plan that includes: for the first time combined prevention of HIV and other STIs.”

In 2022, 10.6% of new HIV diagnoses were among young people under 25, with men and foreign-born people hit the hardest, according to Victoria Hernando Sebastian, a researcher at the National Center for Epidemiology. The main route of transmission is sexual contact.

On the other hand, 37% of these young people were diagnosed late, indicating the need for increased prevention and early detection in this age group.

As for other STIs, such as syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia, the percentage of young people affected is also significant, especially in the group from 20 to 24 years old. Women have higher rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia, while men are most affected by syphilis.

These findings highlight the importance of strengthening prevention and information campaigns targeting youth, as well as facilitating access to STI screening and treatment.

HIV: 10.6% of new diagnoses occur in persons under 25 years of age.

Syphilis: 10.2% of cases were registered in children under 25 years of age.

Gonorrhea: 23.8% of cases were registered in children under 25 years of age.

Chlamydia: 37.6% of cases were registered in children under 25 years of age.

Strategic plan

Actions on HIV and STIs are included in the Strategic Plan for the Prevention and Control of HIV and STIs in Spain 2021-2030, approved by the Ministry of Health and the Autonomous Communities. These measures are aimed, on the one hand, at key populations or those who are more vulnerable to HIV and other STIs; and, on the other hand, for the population as a whole, with particular attention to adolescents, young adults and women.

The overall goal of the Strategic Plan is to advance and coordinate efforts to eliminate HIV and STIs as a public health problem in 2030 through prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of infections, attention to chronic diseases and improving quality of life, and combating stigma. and discrimination related to HIV and other STIs in Spain.

Prevention

The condom is the most effective barrier method to prevent STI transmission, but it is underused.

According to the Spanish Youth Report 2020, although young people prefer to use condoms during penetrative sex (80%), 37% say they have not used them at all in the past year for various reasons. About 27% said they used another method of contraception; 25% knew the person well enough; and 13% who did not have condoms at the time.

By age, 77% of young people aged 15 to 24 use condoms, although this figure drops to 69% among people aged 25 to 29.

The progressive increase in the proportion of young people having sex at an early age (mean age at first sexual intercourse is 16.2 years) indicates that it is important to implement comprehensive sexuality education interventions so that young people also have information, attitudes and personal skills allowing you to enjoy healthy sexuality.

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