During the coming weeks you can get a condom pressed into your hand at festivals and introduction weeks of study programmes. It is an initiative of the RIVM and the GGDs. They are concerned about the growing number of venereal diseases. GGD Flevoland will be at the student market of HBO Windesheim in Almere at the end of August.
Nurses from the Center for Sexual Health of GGD Flevoland provide information there and hand out condoms. The message is: give love, not an STI.
STIs (sexually transmitted diseases) are nowadays more often underestimated, thinks RIVM doctor Rosa Joosten. ”Young people are less worried about being at risk, they think things will run smoothly. They think: I don’t have sex with someone who has an STI. But you don’t know that.”
In 2022, young people in particular were more likely to have a venereal disease, reports the RIVM, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. RIVM doctor Rosa Joosten: “We see it especially among heterosexual young people under the age of 25, specifically the highly educated group.”
More often gonorrhea
Certainly the number of gonorrhea cases has increased in the past year. RIVM is concerned about this. “Don’t underestimate it. In women, it often causes no complaints. So you can walk around with it without noticing it.” When men have gonorrhea, they sometimes get pain when urinating or mucus or pus comes out of the penis. The STI can cause inflammation.
Joosten realizes that handing out condoms at festivals and during student introduction weeks does not lead to a change in behaviour. “It is not our idea that we will get everyone to use a condom forever. But at least it gives attention again and it is a bit of awareness.”
She hopes that there will be a kind of Free Safe Campaign again, the information from the government that existed until 2012. “As RIVM, we are not going to discuss it, but any attention and awareness campaign can help. Sex is nice and not just a risk, but do it consciously and protect yourself with a condom.”
Reached 59,000 young people
Earlier this year, GGD Flevoland had a social media campaign aimed at young people in Flevoland. It focused on safe sex and the risk of STIs. According to the GGD Flevoland, more than 59,000 young people in Flevoland were reached with this.
2023-08-10 15:51:46
#Free #condoms #students #fight #growing #number #STDs
