STIs: a ‘ticking time bomb’
The UK is faced with an ‘appalling’ sexual health crisis, according to MPs on the influential Health Select Committee.
MPs spoke out against the increasingly high levels of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
MPs consider the problem endemic and have said it is akin to a public health crisis.
Committee chairman David Hinchliffe MP said: ‘I do not use the word lightly, but during the course of the inquiry, it has become plain that with sexual health we are looking at a public health crisis.’
Shadow Health Secretary Dr Liam Fox accused the Government of complacency: ‘The crisis in sexual health is a ticking time bomb. The Government’s woeful failure to take any meaningful action puts patients at risk and is hugely irresponsible.’
The Committee, reporting on the National Sexual Health and HIV Strategy for England, said more must be done to address the long-term under-funding of NHS sexual health clinics in England.
Committee MPs warned of the increasing incidence of Chlamydia, Syphilis and Gonorrhoea among sexually active women.
One in 10 young sexually active women is now believed to be infected with Chlamydia. Syphilis rates have surged 500% since 1997, while Gonorrhoea infections have doubled.
In 2002, around 6,500 people were told they had the HIV. Sandra Gidley MP said: ‘Rates of sexually transmitted disease, including HIV/Aids, are astronomical.’
It also urged the Government quickly to ‘immediately’ introduce a national chlamydia screening programme.
At school, the Committee recommended that sex education should be made a compulsory element of the National Curriculum.
