You may not be aware of it but this week as well as being National
Cholesterol Week, is also Sexual Health Week. Pioneered by The Family
Planning Association (FPA) and proudly supported by Medical Specialists
Pharmacy, the aim of this week is to promote awareness of a wide variety
of sexual health issues. Each year the FPA focus on a different subject
in a bid to get people aware and looking after their sexual health.
Back in 2009 the main topic of this week was looking at sex and alcohol,
in 2010 it was sexual health in the over-50’s, in 2011 it was ‘The
Facts of Life, how and when to talk to your children about puberty,
relationships and sex’, and now this year in 2012 the FPA and Brook are
working together on the ‘XES We can’t go backwards’ campaign.
For those not in-the-know about this new national campaign and its
aims, it is a campaign urging people to join in against fighting budget
cuts, policy changes, and more specifically; the lack of easy access to
contraception due to closures of sexual health centres or alterations to
their opening hours. Basically the main premise of the campaign is to
protect contraceptive rights and choice.
Both leading sexual health charities FPA and Brook, say that they are
receiving an ever-growing number of calls from worried and unhappy
members of the public, being denied basic access to the advice, products
and services that they require.
FPA Chief Executive, Julie Bentley, commented: “We are seeing the
beginnings of a crisis in this critical women’s health issue. Modern
contraception is effective in stopping unplanned pregnancy and is also
highly cost effective. But it is simply useless if women are stopped
from accessing and using it. A woman’s reproductive years span over half
of her lifetime and every reproductive choice she makes carries social,
economic, and personal consequences. There’s a genuine risk that we’re
slipping back to the dark ages. We cannot stand by and wait for the
crisis to happen – we’ve got to act now.”
Adding to Julie Bentley’s comments was Brook Chief Executive, Simon
Blake, who said: “A blend of different circumstances in sexual health
are forming into a toxic mix. Services are being cut, and budgets
reduced, the national sexual health and teenage pregnancy strategies
have ended, the NHS is being radically reformed and there are attempts
by a small vociferous minority to undermine women’s reproductive rights.
By working with the public to understand the true scale of the problem,
this campaign will help to protect the improvements made in recent
years so everyone can access the contraception and advice they are
entitled to. We simply cannot and must not go backwards.”
The FPA and Brook are now urging people in the UK to embrace the
scheme and also to discuss and rate their own personal experiences of
contraception services, both good and bad. This can be done via the
interactive online sexual health map at www.wecantgobackwards.org.uk.
However it is not only the UK who is involved in promoting sexual
health this week. Australia are also doing their bit for Sexual Health
Week, with many public health experts speaking out and encouraging
everyone to ask their doctor for regular sex health check-ups as well as
to continue with safe-sex practices such as making sure to wear a
condom.
Health authorities over in Australia have initiated a scheme called
‘Check it Out’, aimed at targeting the high spreading of the sexually
transmitted infection chlamydia, which also happens to be the most
common STI in the UK too. The decision to focus the majority of their
efforts on chlamydia may have something to do with the recent
publication of figures that show that chlamydia rates are continuing to
increase by an average of 15% every year among 16 – 25 year olds in the
South Eastern Sydney region of Australia.
Director of Sydney Sexual Health Centre, Dr Anna McNulty, commented
that though increased rates of diagnosis may be due to more testing for
the STI, notification rates continued to remain high amongst gay men.
She said, “This is largely due to increased testing for Chlamydia, but
also due to increased Chlamydia notification rates, which are
unfortunately still high amongst gay men, and more so, men who have sex
with men. Many people who have an STI do not have any obvious symptoms
or signs, particularly with Chlamydia, which often has no symptoms.
Chlamydia is easy to test for with a urine test and, like many STIs, is
easily treated with a simple dose of antibiotics. But it is better to
have never had it at all. Chlamydia is easily prevented by using
condoms. We encourage young people who are sexually active to use
condoms and to see their GP, local sexual health clinic or youth health
service to check out their sexual health and regularly test for STIs, in
particular Chlamydia.”
If you do suspect you may have chlamydia, Medical Specialists
Pharmacy can provide the Clamelle chlamydia test kit from just £24.85,
which can be used in the privacy of your own home to avoid an
embarrassing trip to the doctor. Or, if you have been confirmed as
having this or gonorrhoea, the antibiotic Azithromycin can prevent the
spread of the bacteria so that your body’s natural defences can fight
back and remove the infection from your system. We also have the
antiviral prescription medication Valtrex which helps to slow the spread
of the herpes virus.
To minimise the risk of catching and spreading an STI, men must
always wear condoms, and this is where we come in. We have a massive
selection of condoms at fantastic prices such as the highly sought after
Durex Performax Intense. This particular condom benefits both partners.
It contains a lubricant – benzocaine 5%, which will prolong his climax,
whilst the outside of the condom is ribbed and dotted to heighten her
orgasm. On top of this we have a huge range of different condoms in our
expanding chemist shop such as Durex Play Vibrations, which can be used
in conjunction with a condom to add to the pleasure!
No comments:
Post a Comment