Infections rise as students forget safe sex lessons
Experts fear “fatigue” surrounding safe sex is leading to an increase in risky behavior among students.
Waikato sexual health experts say “fatigue” around safe sex is leading to a rise in previously rare infections.
A University of Otago survey published in the New Zealand Medical Journal shows that only about half (54 per cent) of respondents used a condom the last time they had sex and around 5 per cent had experienced an unintended pregnancy.
Waikato University student health doctor Ken Johnson said interest in sexual health had lapsed in the years since HIV was a limelight issue.
“I think the drama of, ‘I might catch something I might die of’, has gone. There’s a bit of fatigue around the issue of sexual health.”
However, he said a disturbing resurgence in the number of previously rare STIs like gonorrhoea and syphilis might push young people to get tested.
“It’s a harder sell when you’re talking about chlamydia – it’s not such an immediate consequence. It’s sad to say, but it’s these sort of things that will bring sexual health back into focus.”
Waikato University Student Union president Sapphire Gillard agreed, saying many students weren’t actively thinking about things like their ability to have children in the future, so the fears around chlamydia’s impact on the female reproductive system weren’t hitting home.
“I think it’s possibly just not understanding how serious it is – unwanted pregnancy and fertility loss are not what students are thinking about.”
Waikato DHB sexual health manager Kitty Flannery said the importance of safe sex and STI testing needed to become a media priority.
“If you turn on the TV, there’s stuff about male sexual dysfunction and women getting cervical screening done. There’s nothing about getting tested for sexually transmitted diseases.”
Family Planning chief executive Jackie Edmond said the issue was the result of a number of different factors.
“I think it’s an unfortunate sort of mix.
“We continue to have inadequate sexual education in schools and there are issues around young women feeling comfortable in initiating condom use.”
She said alcohol was another major contributing factor – a statement backed by survey results showing 32 per cent had been drinking the last time they had sex.
The study, which questioned nearly 3000 New Zealand students aged 17-26, is the first of its kind since 1991.
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