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Sexually transmitted diseases continue to spread in Denmark

Increasing numbers people in Denmark are catching sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhoea.

Published: 16 May 2018 11:15 CEST
Sexually transmitted diseases continue to spread in Denmark
Photo: Jon Nordstrøm/Ritzau Scanpix

The issue particularly affects younger demographics living in cities, newspaper Berlingske reports.

The trend has now persisted for a number of years, causing medical organisations to raise concern over the issue.

Medical journal Ugeskrift for Læger has described the situation as an “epidemic”, as has research institute SSI, which monitors the spread of infectious diseases.

Bjarne B. Christensen, general secretary with the Danish Family Planning Association (Sex og Samfund, DFPA), says that doctors’ views on the issue should be taken seriously.

“It is very concerning that we again this year have seen an increase in chlamydia as well as gonorrhoea and syphilis,” Christensen told Ritzau.

An increase in cases of gonorrhoea in Denmark was first recorded in 2015 and continued in 2016, the year of the most recent available figures.

In 2016, 3,748 cases of gonorrhoea were recorded by doctors, of which 2,036 were men and 1,442 were women. That represented a 27 percent increase in one year.

Syphilis incidences have grown from just 22 in 1999 to around 700 per year.

SSI is currently working on a report into the number of cases of all three diseases in 2017, but can already see that numbers have not fallen compared to 2016, according to Berlingske’s report.

Christensen called for new methods to be used to halt the trend.

“If we are to break this curve, we must work with young people to get the to use protection.

“The other thing we must do is to find the people who are infected. In addition to the 34,000 who have been confirmed to have chlamydia, an equally large group is thought to have it without knowing. So we have get better at making sure people are tested,” he said.

Both regional health authorities and educational institutions have a role to play in that effort, the DFPA general secretary added.

“The whole ongoing dialogue about safe sex is basically non-existent after school age, because youth education institutions don’t have sex education.

“So the context in which young people can be reached out to is not good enough,” he said.

READ ALSO: Danish municipalities pay for condoms and birth control to prevent teen pregnancies

SEX

Spain launches safe sex campaign as STD rates soar among millennials

Spain will launch a campaign to urge young people to "always carry a condom on them" as the number of sexually transmitted infections (STI) surges, the government said Thursday.

Published: 13 June 2019 18:11 CEST
Spain launches safe sex campaign as STD rates soar among millennials
Photo: ginasanders/Depositphotos

The news comes a week after the World Health Organization expressed alarm at the lack of progress on curbing STI or diseases (STD), with one expert warning of complacency as dating apps spur sexual activity.

In Spain, videos and ads will be posted from Monday on social networks, music platforms and media that 14- to 29-year-olds most follow, the health ministry said.

“It's normal that you want to do it in your parents' bed. What isn't normal is that you want to complicate your life,” reads one ad, going on to show the number of new cases of HIV and other infections.

In a statement, the health ministry urged “everyone — and particularly the young — to always have a condom on them and use it.”   

“The use of condoms has dropped among the 15- to 18-year-olds over the last few years,” Health Minister Maria Luisa Carcedo told reporters.   

She said there was complacency over STI, including infection by the HIV virus that causes AIDS.

The campaign is a “first shock measure” to challenge the rise of STI among young people, the statement said.   

The number of cases of gonorrhoea, for instance, has risen an average of more than 26 percent annually between 2013 and 2017, according to the ministry.   

Syphilis “has risen less but in 2017, it reached its highest peak since the start of statistics in Spain: 10.61 infections per 100,000 residents compared to 2.57 in 1995.”

The highest rates of chlamydia, meanwhile, are among 20- to 24-year-olds and particularly women, the ministry said.   

In 2017, Spain registered close to 24,000 cases of infection by gonorrhoea, syphilis, chlamydia and LGV, a sexually-transmitted disease, according to the statement.

READ MORE:  Seven of the best cheesy chat up lines in Spanish

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