Misty Media Sex Blog

October 18th 2005, 09:51 Jeff Sela

More stuff about diseases I'm afraid. A BBC programme, Panorama, has exposed the retched state of Britain's sexual health clinics. (The programme is still available to watch from that page for now.)

Sexual diseases, particularly chlamydia, have been rising alarmingly for over the last ten years. There are thought to be 500,000 people with chlamydia in just the under 25 age group. Gonorrhoea, syphilis, and HIV are also on the rise.

Panorama conducted a survey of all the NHS GU clinics, to see how long people would have to wait for an appointment if they either wanted a routine checkup or had an urgent problem. They found that only 7% of the clinics could offer a routine appointment within 48 hours, which is the government's target, and a shocking 27% of them couldn't offer an appointment for someone with symptoms of an STI within 48 hours.

The clinics are complaining that they are underfunded, and are concerned that a new £300 million of funding for sexual health will be diverted by local authorities into other areas.

The danger is that if these diseases aren't detected and dealt with early then the carriers are likely to continue to have sex and spread them further.

The programme also followed the case of a woman who had caught chlamydia some time ago. In her case, which is apparently far from unusual, the disease had caused adhesions which blocked up her fallopian tubes, preventing her from getting pregnant naturally. It is only after a going undiagnosed for a long time, though, that chlamydia becomes a serious problem. Once detected it can be cured with a course of antibiotics. This is why it's important that people can easily get tested. The Department of Health has announced a screening programme to combat the rise of chlamydia.