Changing promiscuity is key to sexual health

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 13 Oct 2004 - 15:00 PDT

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Ignoring the so-called "promiscuous ten per cent," is the main cause of the current sexual health crisis, according to public health experts in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

The promiscuous ten per cent are regarded as people who have multiple sexual partners and who may have started having sex in their early teens.

Researchers at the Centre for Public Health in Liverpool, UK, believe that it is vital to change the behaviour of this group in order to improve the nation's sexual health.

The study concludes that often this ten per cent is ignored because officials fear upsetting the less promiscuous of society.

Professor Mark Bellis, director of the Centre for Public Health, said: "At national levels the choice to guarantee the delivery of high quality sex education is evaded, often to avoid offence to a sensitive but vocal minority."

He added: "Perhaps a greater level of statutory, pertinent, and timely sex education is now required despite the complaints of a few."

The researchers believe that policy makers should introduce initiatives which encourage open debate about sex in a bid to reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases as well as promoting the idea of safe sex.

http://www.hda-online.org.uk

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