Over half of sexually active students not tested

A new survey has found that more than half of sexually active students have never been tested for sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Despite this, 63% have had unprotected sex. The survey consisted of just under 1,200 students from across the
country, and was carried out on the popular student network site, The Student Room (TSR).

The results also showed that of the 63% who were engaging in unprotected sex, 26% had never bought condoms before.

The survey asked about the quality of sex education, where 40% said it was ‘just average’ and 27% said it was ‘poor’.

However, 87% of students said they used the internet (both online searches and forums) for information on sex and sexual health.

STI clinics

However, as the survey was carried out on an online forum, the results of this may be skewed. This result comes after a Public Health England report from June 2015 indicated that the numbers of STI cases were increasing in England.

There were 439,243 cases of STIs in 2014, with young people (under the age of 25) and gay and bisexual men most at risk.

There has been a considerable rise in number of diagnoses of STIs over the past ten years. Young people (aged 16-24) in 2014 accounted for 63% of chlamydia cases, 55% of gonorrhoea cases, 52% of genital warts cases and 42% of herpes cases.

The University’s advice for sexual health check-ups offers pros and cons for visiting your GP vs. a GUM clinic.

Warwick University, however, only offers particular tests at its on campus health centre, screening for chlamydia and taking swabs for bacterial vaginosis, thrush and other non-sexually transmitted infections.

This is apparently “due to the need for certain tests to be processed quickly”.