NUS ATA: Sexual Health

As part of my NUS Action Through Advocacy training last week, I attended a workshop on sexual health, run by national Vice President (Welfare) Ama Uzowuru.

The workshop began by bringing to light some shocking statistics on sexual health in the UK, which really highlight why we still need to focus on the area of sexual health in our campaigns and activities today.

-> STI diagnoses between 1996 and 2005 increased by 60%
-> Young people in Britain have the worst sexual health in Western Europe
->Sex and Relationship Education is not only hetronormative, but not a complusary part of the national curriculum!
->At least 25,000 people in the UK have contracted HIV and are unaware of their condition
->15% of lesbian women, and 7% of non lesbian women never have a routine smear test.
-> 29% if transgender people are discouraged from accessing healthcare, because of the attitude of healthcare proffesionals.

-> A concern that was highlighted in this workshop is that there is no set ringfenced government money for sexual health activity.
-> There is meant to be a maximum 48 hour waiting time for a GUM clinic appointment- in reality however, these appointments can take weeks.
-> If you are over the age of 21, the GUM clinics do not see you as a priority, so your waiting time may be even longer than the average!

As part of the workshop, we also had a talk from Global Ethics, who produce One Water.
-> From September this year, Global Ethics are going to begin selling condoms, from which the profits will go to funding HIV projects in Africa.
-> 38.6 million people globally are diagnosed with HIV, 70% of which are from Africa.

Look out for the condoms from September- they come in really cool packaging (see the picture top right). Global Ethics will be launching a national competiton to design a packet. Also watch out later in the year, as they will be looking for ambassadors!