Health
RCGP conference on Britain's sexual health crisis
By Ashwin, UK Correspondent
Nov 20, 2004, 05:40

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) is holding a one day conference on sexual health issues arising out of the Government�s recent White Paper on public health.

Sex in the Surgery, in London on December 7, will advise GPs and other primary healthcare professionals on how they can provide better sexual health services and ease the current demands on sexual health (GUM) clinics.

The conference, supported by the Department of Health's Sexual Health and Substance Misuse Unit, is being organised against the backdrop of unprecedented increases in the rates of new HIV infections and cases of STIs (sexually transmitted infections) such as chlamydia and syphilis over the last ten years. Young men will be a particular focus and strategies will be suggested for reducing Britain�s teenage pregnancy rate � currently the highest in Europe.

Dr William Ford-Young, chair of the RCGP Sex, Drugs and HIV task working group, said: "Sexual health and the under-25s is a real time bomb. This event - the first of its kind in the UK - will give GPs and other healthcare workers the opportunity to put together a cohesive strategy for treating and reducing the number of people appearing in our surgeries with sexually transmitted infections."

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