POINTE XPRESS: The incidence of sexually transmitted diseases is most prevalent in the teenage and early adult populations in Antigua and Barbuda.
That’s the assessment of Clinical Social Worker at the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre, Sequoyah Survia, who made the disclosure while speaking on a panel hosted Sunday night by ABS Television to discuss the entire situation in the country.
Survia revealed that during her interactions with young people at the hospital there are several social issues that she encounters and a high rate of STD’s is among them.
“My recommendations are that there should be sex education taught in the school system at both the primary and secondary school levels because of the increasing incidence of STD’s among young people and the fact that many, or most, are not even aware that they are infected with the STD’s,” she told the panel.
According to the social worker the diseases that she encounters include herpes, syphilis and pelvic inflammatory disease, which she explains, is a disease caused by untreated STD’s.
She added that she believes the incidence of chlamydia is also prevalent, but noted that this requires a specialized blood test which is quite expensive so most persons do not take the test.
The infection is being detected in teenagers from as early as 13 years to 18 years as well as among young adults in their 20’s.
Survia further explained that most of the young teenagers and young people are being infected by both older men as well as from their peers.
She added that the ratio is 60 percent by older men and 40 percent by their peers.
The clinical social worker emphasized that young women are seen by health personnel at a rate higher than young men, mainly because they seek medical attention quicker.
However, young men are also being infected with STD’s but many choose not to report it to anyone.
She is recommending that a nation-wide education campaign targeting young people is needed that will utilize both traditional and new media if the society wants to come to grips with this problem.
Advertise with the mоѕt vіѕіtеd nеwѕ ѕіtе іn Antigua! We offer fully customizable and flexible digital marketing packages.Contact us at [email protected]
