British health ministers are putting the final touches to a £50 million (US $77.7 million) campaign that will target teenagers and young women under 25 with powerful and witty messages about chlamydia -- "the disease you don't know you have." Pilot studies carried out two years ago in Portsmouth and the Wirral showed that one in ten young women screened for chlamydia by their general practitioners tested positive. In some parts of the country, one in five teenagers is infected. Up to 90 percent of the 30,000 women offered a chlamydia check-up accepted. Figures for chlamydia doubled between 1995 and 2001 to more than 70,000 cases in Britain. A further rise of 10 percent is expected this year. According to the Public Health Laboratory Service, chlamydia is now the most common STD.

At the campaign's launch, the Department of Health will stress that the government has allocated an extra £6 million (US $9.3 million) this year to fund sexual health clinics and abortion services. Dr. Colm O'Mahony, chair of the Association of Genito-urinary Medicine, said, "Of course we welcome attempts to give sexual health a high profile." However, "Our access surveys show that more than 40,000 patients now experience unacceptable delays. Many patients cannot be seen for four to six weeks. Walk-in access is being all but phased out, and in most sexual health clinics the average wait has risen to two weeks. Ideally many of these young patients should be seen immediately," he said. "Those who have to wait might not return. The risk is they pass on an infection," said O'Mahony.

"This money will not make a significant difference, as clinics desperately need more staff and more space. We have an inadequate, super-saturated service and our association has already strongly advised the government that these national campaigns should be delayed until the 250 clinics have been expanded," O'Mahony said. "Posters might point people in the right direction, but the services have to be in place," he said. O'Mahony said British sexual health clinics need at least £60 million (US $93.2 million) annually to bring them gradually into line with their European counterparts.

Back to other CDC news for October 15, 2002

Previous Updates | Search the CDC archive