Recent figures showed that more than two teens are being diagnosed with diseases like gonorrhea, syphilis and genital herpes every day. The figure also revealed that around 4,200 children with ages 13 and 14 have caught a sexually transmitted infections for the past five years. With these data, campaigners strongly urged that people should be educated about STI at the early age.
According to the figures obtained by the Daily Star Sunday from the Public Health England, there have been 4,208 teens, aged between 13 and 14, were diagnosed with STI since 2010. And 222,418 youngsters aged 19 and below have contracted the disease. The aforementioned figures have been found "very alarming" by healthcare specialists.
Department for Child Protection and Family Support (DCP) also released its figures to Community News -- showing that 98 children in the South East Metropolitan area were reported to be with unspecified STIs in the 2014-2015 financial year. The agency also found out that the number of children, who were infected with the disease statewide, has increased for the last three years.
Prior to the survey, health experts also discovered highest rates were cases of chlamydia -- a disease that can potentially cause infertility if left untreated. They also said that there is a huge possibility that the number could go higher as there were many teens who do not want to be tested.
Since the released of the alarming data, Dr. Michael Brady, medical director at the Terrence Higgins Trust said, "Young people are disproportionately affected by STIs." Hence, he said it is important to teach young people about Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) to give them knowledge about the importance of safe sex.
Jules Hillier, head of the sexual health charity Brook, also supported Dr. Brady's suggestion by saying, "We need to invest in education and services for young people to help them stay safe and healthy." He further added that many young people were not fully equipped about sex and not getting any comprehensive information about it from their schools.
