Judith Collins
National Party Health Spokeswoman
30 January 2005
Call for safe-sex campaign aimed at syphilis
National's Health spokeswoman, Judith Collins, says there must be an urgent re-evaluation of the safe-sex promotion
campaign if infectious syphilis is to be halted before it becomes an epidemic.
She is commenting on a report that the incidence of syphilis has quadrupled in the past three years.
"It looks like the Government's safe-sex promotion campaign is falling on deaf ears, particularly where older age groups
are concerned, and this is a worry.
"The increase in syphilis, it seems, is due to so-called 'safe-sex fatigue', with more unsafe sex going on.
"This is a real worry because there are serious health effects later on from having syphilis which goes undiagnosed for
several years. The results are really serious.
"The Government must have a serious look at its safe-sex campaign, in particular the Hubba Hubba campaign, which is
aimed primarily at teenagers, because the increase in syphilis is in the older age groups," Ms Collins says.
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