Could There Be STDs That Are More Fatal Than AIDS?

Valentine’s Day is a very important day in the sexual calendar, a day when relationship wellness and wellbeing are celebrated, but when STDs are also at their highest risk. This is because people get swept up in the ‘romance’ of the night and often forget that, however unromantic, it is still important to use protection. This Valentine’s Day, people throughout the world gave out much more than chocolates and flowers – they gave out free condoms. Safe sex awareness events were held all across 13 countries, during the ‘season of love’.

 

World Condom Day is now observed at the same time as Valentine’s Day in order to promote the idea of safe sex on one of the most sexually active days of the year. The theme for the celebration this year was ‘Love is the Best Protection’.

 

This theme was designed to help spread a message of love as a way of preventing both HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. The thinking behind this is that the best way to show love both for yourself and for other people is to choose to use a condom. This protects everyone against unplanned pregnancies, and also improves the sexual health by protecting against HIV and other STDs. World Condom Day aims to ensure that people have greater access to free condoms than ever before, whilst educating them on the importance of choosing to have safe sex.

 

Condoms – when used correctly – are the only form of protection that helps to protect against contracting a sexually transmitted disease.

 

This is particularly important now, more than ever before, as experts have been reporting that a new STD has arrived which could be even more deadly than AIDS. If this super bug is not harnessed, it could cause the most devastating epidemic the world has ever seen.

Categories: Condom, condom day, day, free condoms, nbsp, people, Protection, safe sex, sexually transmitted, STDs, world, world condom

‘Sexperts’ and the Condom Fairy: US University Launches Blog

Boston University (BU) has led the way in sexual health services, by providing a sex advice panel, a blog, and gifts from the “Condom Fairy” on their website. According to public health educator Sophie Godley, students tend to get most of their sex-related information from friends or online sites and, whether they’re sexually active or not, these sources are frequently misleading or unreliable. Hence, BU Student Health Services (SHS) Wellness and Prevention Services are taking the initiative to look after their students’ sexual wellbeing.

This semester, the SHS launched a sexual health initiative to provide students with more accurate information about sex. Part of this included a live Q&A with a group of campus “sexperts,” including Godley, who is a School of Public Health clinical assistant professor of community health sciences. According to SHS wellness coordinator Katharine Mooney, ‘We decided to focus on sexual health because it plays a key role in students’ overall physical and emotional wellbeing.’

A report released last year by the federal Centres for Disease Control and Prevention showed that 6.7% of the one million Americans infected by HIV are under the age 24, and so the need for students to gain accurate sexual knowledge, confidence, and realistic expectations has never been greater or more urgent. However, that is not to say that the message of the initiative, which includes a blog and a condom giveaway programme, will be delivered without a healthy dose of humour.

Mooney explained that though the Q&A sexpert panel will be held in the dark ‘to make students more comfortable,’ there will also be ‘fun glow-in-the-dark giveaways such as necklaces and condoms.’ Also, the “Condom Fairy” programme allows students to order free male and female condoms, delivered anonymously by snail mail to on-campus addresses. Students can order up to three male condoms, two female condoms, three personal lubricant packets, and two Sheer Glyde dams, and, as of last week, about 500 students had requested the items.

Godley commented that at in her classes she sees ‘a really smart, really engaged population of students who care a lot about each other and their futures. So there’s a great opportunity to create general equality and see human sexuality as normal.’ However, she added that many young people come to sex with ‘totally unrealistic expectations’ from watching ‘amped-up porn sex’ and so ‘we need to be in more open communication about the meaning of consent and gender roles.’

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‘Sexperts’ and the Condom Fairy: US University Launches Blog

Categories: free condoms, sexperts, students