NUS calls for better sexual health provision

Students are to meet the public health minister, Caroline Flint, next month to urge her to tackle the growing rates of sexually transmitted infections (STI) in young people.

The National Union of Students has organised the meeting following a rally last month, where, along with the Terrance Higgins Trust, it called on primary care trusts to guarantee that students are able to get an appointment at a sexual health clinic within 48 hours of making an inquiry.

The NUS is also calling on all primary care trusts (PCT) to supply contraception to students' unions "to end the postcode lottery that currently characterises this scheme". It also wants to see personal social and health education (PSHE) become a compulsory part of the curriculum for 14 to 19-year-olds.

An NUS spokeswoman said: "Waiting times are a postcode lottery, with stretched resources and huge waiting lists; nationally we see 18 to 25-year-olds as the most 'at risk group' of contracting sexually transmitted infections, with one in 10 young people thought to have Chlamydia."

The NUS will use research commissioned by students in Leeds to urge Ms Flint to make sexual health in young people a government priority. The postcode area of LS6, where the majority of Leeds students live, has the highest rate of STI diagnosis in the city.

Student unions at the University of Leeds and Leeds Metropolitan University and the Leeds north west primary care trust commissioned the research to establish student attitudes to, and awareness of, sexual health issues. More than 1,000 students from the two universities, Trinity and All Saints College, Leeds College of Music and Leeds College of Art and Design were involved in the study.

The report found that only 35% of students always used a condom and 10% never used one. Students mainly used condoms to protect against pregnancy, which they felt was more important then contracting an STI. Some 66% of students who had unprotected sex did not have an STI test afterwards because they trusted their partner.

About 44% of male students said they were committed to one sexual partner, but men were twice as likely as women to have multiple partners.

The report said: "The burden of sexual ill health in the UK disproportionately affects women, gay men, young adults, black and minority ethnic groups, and teenagers, who represent the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe."

Last month, the NUS and the Terrance Higgins Trust called on the government to reduce waiting times for clinic appointments and to make it compulsory for PCTs to supply contraception to student unions.

"The research conducted in Leeds only exemplifies the need for this to happen urgently so that less people are at risk and can access the services they need," said the report.