Safe Sex Campaign Out And About In Portsmouth, UK

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 09 Oct 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Students and football fans were the first to be offered 'Something 4 the Weekend' by the NHS in Portsmouth.

Portsmouth City teaching Primary Care Trust is running the sexual health campaign with Portsmouth-based events company Avantii to raise awareness of safe sex and find out more about the city's bedroom habits.

The 'Something 4 the Weekend' team headed for the Freshers Fayre last week. With over 10,000 visitors over the two day event, the team had a chance to chat to students and tell them how they could be in with the chance of winning a weekend break in a New Forest Hotel by visiting something4theweekend.org. Contestants were also recruited from the crowd to see for themselves just how tricky using a condom can be if you're drunk in a game show-style stage show. Participants were given goggles that imitate the effects on your vision and co-ordination after having a few too many.

"It's important to use condoms correctly to protect your health, the game show proved how drinking can make that much more difficult. The message - limit your drinking and stay in control - was clear," said Carolyn Watts, Public Health Development Manager at Portsmouth City tPCT.

The team were also unmissable at Portsmouth's 2-1 victory against Stoke City on Sunday in their own blue kit - adorned with some of the diseases that sex without a condom puts lovers at risk of, including Chlamydia, Syphilis and HIV. They were handing out free condoms with information about local services and encouraging visitors to confidentially share information about their sex lives and knowledge about sexual health on electronic polling machines.

The team will be spending next weekend on the town delivering the 'Something 4 the Weekend' message to city centre revellers at bars and pubs on Friday (10) and Saturday (11) and will be meeting more members of the public at Cascades shopping centre between 16 and 18 October.

NHS in Portsmouth