Malta needed an "urgent re-appraisal" of its sex education and health promotion programmes, because year after year no improvement was being registered, warned Dr. Carabot, who runs the Genitourinary Clinic. Sexually transmitted diseases are steadily on the rise. In 2006, there were 10 cases of HIV (up from two cases in 2000), and gonorrhoea shot up to 32 cases (from 23 in 2005). The vast majority (on average 70 per cent) of GU clinic users never used contraception. Last year, 1,946 people attended the clinic, with 70 per cent of these being new patients. The report shows that 46 per cent described their partner as casual, while 67 per cent never used a condom. "This pattern of high casual sex with very poor condom use is persistent through the years. We must eventually recognise that our sex education and sexual health promotion efforts are simply not adequate and are not giving any positive results," the report said.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
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3 comments:
Could I suggest a connection of the findings with the high incidence of binge drinking amongst youngsters ?
Drunk people aren't exactly renowned for their ability to think clearly... And no amount of sexual education can change that.
You are absolutely right and in fact this is addressed in the full report. I agree that sex education won't change binge drinking. But something has to be done about this "epidemic". Do you have any suggestions?
I don't think that there are many things that can be done.
Binge drinking has become an integral part of youth culture, and youths are going to indulge (or rather, over-indulge) in it, no matter what the health authorities/school/family tells them.
Maybe schools have to start organising hospital visits, so kids can see cirrotic patients ? Or maybe friday-night traffic accident victims ? Possibly some underage pregnancies, too ? That should make them think.
Other than that, not much can be done. Mainly because we can't really get people to make their life more interesting and their social relationships more meaningful...
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