HPV vaccination campaign to go ahead

The UK Department of Health has confirmed that girls aged between 12 and 13 will be routinely vaccinated in an annual human papillomavirus (HPV) immunisation programme from next September. There will also be a two-year catch-up campaign, starting in autumn 2009, for girls up to 18 years.

The decision is directly in line with the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which reviewed the issue in June.

This vaccination is available in Malta at a cost of approximately LM180 for the whole course.

Sex Education Programmes 'not working': Rate of Casual Sex High but Condom Use is Low

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.

Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male

In 1932, the US Public Health Service began a study to record the natural history of syphilis in hopes of justifying treatment programs for blacks. The study involved 600 black men – 399 with syphilis, 201 who did not have the disease. The study was conducted without the benefit of patients' informed consent. Researchers told the men they were being treated for "bad blood," a local term used to describe several ailments, including syphilis, anaemia, and fatigue. In truth, they did not receive the proper treatment needed to cure their illness. In exchange for taking part in the study, the men received free medical exams, free meals, and burial insurance. Although originally projected to last 6 months, the study actually went on for 40 years.

The American people are sorry -- for the loss, for the years of hurt. You did nothing wrong, but you were grievously wronged. I apologize and I am sorry that this apology has been so long in coming.-- President William J. Clinton, May 16, 1997

Remnants of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Effects on University Freshmen: Yet a Possible Barrier to Research Participation?