Posted on 28/02/2007 in Industry related health news Doctors must intervene to prevent Britain's escalating sexual health crisis from deteriorating further, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has warned.
Publishing guidelines on how to stop sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and under-18 conceptions rising, NICE calls on health professionals to engage in one-on-one interventions with those deemed at-risk.
Consultations on contraception, pregnancy and abortion, which reveal an individual's sexual history, are identified as the opportunities to tackle those who are making themselves more susceptible to STIs or an unwanted pregnancy.
"Since 1990, people are having sex for the first time at a younger age, a greater proportion of people have multiple partners, and a greater proportion of men report having had a same-sex partner," the director of NICE's Centre for Public Health Excellence, Professor Mike Kelly, said.
"But something can be done to improve the sexual health of the population, and this guidance from NICE will help health professionals working in the NHS and others working with young people to understand which one-to-one interventions are effective and how they should be used particularly with those at high risk."
Many STIs have seen substantial increases during the last 12 years. Cases of gonorrhoea rose by 200 per cent while chlamydia and HIV cases rose by 300 per cent, NICE said.
The government launched its own sexual health campaign, focusing on correct condom use, last November.Other news stories from 28/02/2007
Read more in the Zenopa News Archive
How this news is generated
|
