Local Football Team Sponsors
Sexual Health Screening

by Jenny Williams
(London, UK)

Finally some fresh ideas regarding the sexual health of young people. A football club in Staffordshire has sponsored its young team members some sexual health screens.

The tests will be carried out by BClear, a sexual health charity focused mainly on the increase of chlamydia cases, and anyone attending Staffordshire University is eligible for a chlamydia test along with full sexual health screenings.

More hopeful news involves recent implementations in Shropshire where they have joined 10 other NHS districts in the Midlands and are availing of the services of Moo Moo Youth Marketing in the launch of a new chlamydia screening programme.

This chlamydia screening programme targets those aged between 15 and 25 years and its primary aim is to make the subject of sexual health screening less taboo.

So far they have screened 300 individuals. Charlotte Slater, operations director of Moo Moo Youth Marketing, explains that access to sexual health screening is everywhere now but people are not availing of the opportunity to get tested because they are not aware of how simple and how quickly a sample may be provided and a result obtained.

The campaign will run at Bridgnorth and in other areas in Shropshire between 1st of October 2010 and February 2011.

It is time for the community to embrace the problem of sexually transmitted diseases and to get rid of the negative connotations that go with them.

As long as we eradicate the taboo, we can normalize STD testing and ease the problem of increasing rates of dangerous STD contraction.

Once again targeting the 15-24 age brackets were targeted by health charity workers from the Terrence Higgins trust (for NHS Lincolnshire). Lucy Street car park was the centre of activity as free self-test chlamydia tests were handed out from 9pm until 12pm in Lucy Tower Street on the 15th October.

Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted infection and can be the most dangerous if left undetected, which is often the case, because it can be symptomless in the majority of cases.

Young people seem to think that sexual health screenings should be carried out if there is suspicion of infection rather than getting tested because they are sexually active. I believe this mind set is what needs changing.

NHS Lincolnshire like representatives of Moo Moo Youth Marketing also stressed how easy it is to take this test. Both sexes may simply provide a urine sample and women may provide a swab sample alternatively.

Since the tests were free, there was no excuse not to get tested. One even had the option of receiving a text message with the results.

The Government is inspiring such campaigns and long may it continue. The organized this evening with the government target of screening 35% of 15-24 year olds before April of next year.