Campaign is a hit for sexual health

Education, Health and Social Care
A testing week event at Amersham College The sexual health team visiting Bucks New Uni in Wycombe

In a special campaignto markSexual Health Testing Week (November 23-27), Bucks County Council’s Public Health Team joined with Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust and the Terrence Higgins Trust to run a series of events around Buckinghamshire to increase awareness of the importance of testing in helping you stay free of sexually-transmitted infections.

The major event of the week was a special day at Bucks New University campus, High Wycombe, on Monday 23 November, focusing on chlamydia -as young people aged 15 to 24 years are most at risk of chlamydia infection.

The day event featured a competition across all the university societiesas well as testing and advice stations around the campus offering friendly advice on how to stay safe and what the risks are if you do get chlamydia but leave it untreated. Simple on-the-spot tests were available, or people could take a postal kit for testing at home or order one online atwww.morethanahug.com

Together with the results from other pop-up clinics which took place around the county, an impressive 120people got tested for chlamydia or other sexually-transmitted infections over the week.

Christabel Morrisof Bucks County Council’s Public Health team said: “Most people with chlamydia don’t know they have it because they don’t experience symptoms. If left untreated, the health implications can be long-term, like infertility. The good news is that when caught early, chlamydia is easily treated with one course of antibiotics!”

Bucks New University student Emma, 19, who had the chlamydia test, said: “I’m proud to get tested because it means I’m taking care of my health. I think it’s the responsible thing to do.”

Martin Phillips, County Council Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Public Health said: “It can be quite tempting for any of us to ignore potential health problems, and Sexual Health Testing Week provides an ideal time for people of any age to be honest about the risks associated with their sexual behaviour and to decide whether to avoid doubt by getting advice – and getting tested. Knowing for sure is a far better option that just hoping for the best!”