Sex

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Generally, young people have good knowledge about HIV. But we need to ensure that they don’t become complacent due to modern treatments.

In the early 1980s, a diagnosis of AIDS was considered a death sentence. Various treatments can now keep those living with HIV relatively healthy, which is an enormous step forward but still not a cure.

Annual new HIV infections in Victoria peaked in 1985 at more than 500 and fell to 141 in 1999. They climbed again and evened out at roughly 260 cases each year from 2006 to 2009, before falling to 228 cases in 2010 (1). The number of new cases has been relatively stable for several years. Read more

STI’s & BBV’s

The instance of chlamydia, a potentially serious infection that can cause infertility, has doubled in the past 10 years.

The fifth National Survey of Australian Secondary Students and Sexual Health 2013* found only 2.2 per cent of young men and 2.7 per cent of young women had been diagnosed with an STI (Sexually Transmissable infection).

Most (88.5 per cent) knew they could have an STI without displaying obvious symptoms. But fewer knew that chlamydia affects both men and women (60 per cent), can lead to sterility among women (56 per cent), and once a person has genital herpes they will always have the virus (46 per cent). Read more