Total GUM clinic workload increased by 268 per cent in the same period. In 2005 almost 11,000 people were diagnosed with the most common STI, chlamydia, with the chlamydia screening project reporting that around one in ten young people have the condition. Our young people have the worst sexual health and highest rate of unintended pregnancy in Western Europe.
NUS believes that:
- All students should have the right to free, accessible, local sexual health services
- Students should not to be discriminated against in their access to this health care because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age
- We should be living in a world that allows everyone the opportunity to enjoy a healthy sex life.
Sadly, part of the reason that the UK’s sexual health has continued to
deteriorate so quickly is that these are highly stigmatised conditions which people don’t feel able to discuss openly. When students have difficulty getting tested or treated for an sexually transmitted infection (STI), they are less likely to complain and can feel isolated. We feel it’s important that NUS supports the health of all students and plan to campaign to ensure all our members have access to high quality sexual health services, as well as the information they need to protect their own sexual health and that of their partners.
Our 11 point manifesto is as follows:
- Campaign to modernise sexual health services and to ensure 48 hour waiting times targets for GUM are reached across the UK.
- Campaign to increase the budget secured for sexual health
- Campaign to make Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) widely available to everyone that needs it. PEP is a short-term antiretroviral treatment, which aims to stop HIV taking hold in the body once a person has come into contact with the virus.
- Make Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) a compulsory part of the National Curriculum.
- Reduce the number of people undiagnosed with HIV from 32 per cent to 25 per cent by 2012.
- Make microbiocides a reality. Microbiocides are special gels or creams, which applied vaginally or anally, could be used in future to prevent the transmission of STIs, including HIV.
- Ensure all women, regardless of sexual orientation, are able to access routine smear testing from the age of 25.
- Stop inequalities in sexual health treatment.
- Campaign and support the set up of sexual health services in further education.
- All sexual health professionals should receive training on ensuring that their services cater for trans people.
- Defend and extend Britain's abortion law.
You can read more about each of these issues in our Sexual Health Coalition document.
How you can get involved
We’re continuing to develop our sexual health coalition to raise awareness of sexual health issues - speak to your students' union officers about getting your union involved.