News

Rise in sex-related infections causes concern

Producers of a popular young people’s TV series are to tackle the topic of sexual health in the wake of reports of a huge rise in sexually transmitted diseases.

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) increased by almost 300,000 cases in the UK in the five years up to 2000, according to a report from the British Medical Association last month. Cases of gonorrhoea rose by 31 per cent in men and 26 per cent in women, while reports of chlamydia increased by 17 per cent from 1999 to 2000, the report, Sexually Transmitted Infections, shows.

The BMA blames the rise on a lack of high profile sexual health campaigns, poor sex education in schools and repressed British attitudes. It called on TV dramas aimed at young people to highlight the risk of sexual diseases and urged the British Broadcasting Standards Commission to conduct a survey of programmes aimed at teenagers to ensure they give a true picture.

Makers of the Channel 4 drama Hollyoaks are to highlight the risks of unsafe sex in an episode where one of the characters finds she has gonorrhoea.