The sexual wellbeing of Oxfordshire residents is more at risk than ever, according to the latest statistics from Public Health England. In 2011, there were 93 cases of gonorrhoea in the county, but last year there were 157. Cases of herpes have also risen from 298 to 313, and incidences of syphilis have more than tripled, from six to 22. The only sexual transmitted infection (STI) to fall was genital warts, dropping from 889 to 859. As a result of these statistics, health campaigners are calling for better sexual wellness measures in Oxfordshire.
Grace Hinde, centre manager for the county branch of the Terrence Higgins Trust sexual health charity, noted that we need more investment in improving schools’ sex education, and in screening campaigns. ‘Work still needs to be done. We are going to have more increases until we get more investment. We need more local investment,’ she urged, adding that STIs could seriously affect your wellness, and even cause infertility, but people are too embarrassed to talk about them.
‘I cannot remember a time when we haven’t been told the numbers are going up,’ said Abingdon GP Prit Buttar, a family doctor since 1991. ‘It is always a disappointment when people fall ill for avoidable reasons. But humans will do irrational things. There is nothing like alcohol and sex to make people act irrationally.’ He added that Oxford’s high student population probably had nothing to do with the rise in infections, as the city had always had a lot of students and more middle-aged people are known to be contracting sex diseases.
According to Dr James Mapstone, interim director of the Thames Valley Public Health England Centre, ‘There have been significant improvements in screening in recent years, particularly for gonorrhoea and chlamydia among young adults and men who have sex with men, so we are diagnosing and treating more infections than ever before. However, this data shows too many people are continuing to have unsafe sex, put themselves at risk of STIs and the serious consequences associated with infection, including infertility. Ongoing investment in programmes to increase sexual health awareness, condom use and testing, particularly for groups at most risk, is vital.’
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