Sexually Transmitted Infections Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Lord Fowler
Main Page: Lord Fowler (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Fowler's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(4 months, 4 weeks ago)
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Lord Fowler (CB)
Does the Minister remember reports on the AIDS campaign in the 1980s, which showed not just a reduction in AIDS but a fall in all other sexually transmitted diseases generally? How much is now being spent on such public education campaigns in this area? Is this spending increasing or decreasing?
Lord Markham (Con)
Overall, we spend £3.5 billion on public health. I do not have the breakdown of the advertising within that, but I will happily follow up with that. That is a small increase over the last year. Education is key to all this. Part of the reason for the increase in sexually transmitted diseases is that people used to use condoms because they were scared about two things: pregnancy and HIV infection. As both those risks have gone down, so has the use of condoms, which has resulted in the higher level of sexually transmitted diseases—so education is key.