Sexual Health in Second Life

I would like to invite you to my seminar in Second Life on 13th December. The Sexual Health SIM has been up and running since August 2007 with a grant from Education UK Ireland. It is linked to Health Info Island and is a source of many unique and interesting activities. There is even an opportunty to "wear" and experience the impact of HIV / AIDS, to get virtual condoms from a machine, and teleport to a one to one advice session. Innovation indeed, and I'm very happy to belong.

See Thursday 6th December's Guardian

Getting safer sex messages across is still of vital importance for campaigners like Contraception Education. This new medium provides an opportunity to get that message to a new audience.

A recent update from the Health Protection agency shows why it is so important...

An estimated 73,000 adults are now living with HIV in the UK , according to the Health Protection Agency's latest report on the UK 's sexual health. This figure includes both those who have been diagnosed and also around a third (21,600) who remain unaware of their HIV status.

Dr Valerie Delpech , Head of HIV surveillance at the Agency said, “Figures received so far for 2006, show 7,093 people were diagnosed with HIV in the UK . We expect this number to rise to an estimated 7,800 when all reports are received, a comparable figure to the 7,900 received in 2005.”

Dr Delpech went on to say, “We are still seeing high levels of HIV transmission in gay men in whom we anticipate that there will have been just over 2,700 new diagnoses of HIV infection in 2006. In recent years we have seen steady increases in all sexually transmitted infections (STI), including HIV, in gay men and since 2003, the number of HIV diagnoses reported annually has consistently increased and exceeded the annual number of diagnoses throughout the 1980s and 1990s.”

Increased testing will have contributed in part to these recent high numbers of HIV diagnoses, but there is no suggestion that the overall level of underlying HIV transmission in gay men has fallen. Unprotected sex continues to be a very high risk activity for HIV and STI transmission in this group.

“Sexual health of young adults has worsened in 2006 with increases in sexually transmitted herpes and warts viruses. One in ten young adults screened through the National Chlamydia Screening Programme in 2006 tested positive for the infection,” said Dr Delpech.

In 2006, there were an estimated 750 new HIV diagnoses thought to be due to heterosexual HIV transmission within the UK , many in black ethnic minority communities. This compares to an estimated 700 cases reported in 2005 and 500 in 2003 showing that heterosexual HIV transmission is steadily increasing.

The number of cases who may have acquired HIV heterosexually in Africa has remained stable. When all reports are received this number will be around 3,450 in 2006 compared to 3,700 the previous year and a peak of 3,850 in 2003.

Professor Pete Borriello, Director of the HPA's Centre for Infections, said “ Our report, Testing Times , launched ahead of World AIDS Day allows us to review the sexual health of the nation and examine progress on preventing HIV and sexually transmitted infections in the UK .

“While there have been some encouraging developments in HIV and STI prevention in the last year such as the increase in HIV testing, a marked reduction in waiting times at STI clinics and wider chlamydia testing for young adults, the total number of STI diagnoses increased 2.4% from 606,600 in 2005 to 621,300 in 2006.

“ The control of HIV and STI transmission is a major public health challenge and testing for STIs, including HIV, in the UK needs to be increased still further. We recommend that gay men should have regular HIV tests, STI clinic attendees should be tested for HIV at every visit and young sexually active adults should be screened for chlamydia annually and after a partner change.

“We need to reinforce the safe sex message for gay men, young adults and the broader community. The best way to protect yourself from contracting an STI including HIV is by practising safer sex by using a condom with all new and casual partners. Any person who believes they may be at risk or has symptoms suggestive of a sexually transmitted infection should consult their doctor or attend a clinic. The sooner HIV and other STIs are diagnosed and treated, the less likely it is they will be passed on.”