NHS Must Help Ignorant Men - Campaigners
August 8th 2006
Ignorance about condoms may lie behind some of the spread of sexual disease in Britain, campaigners claimed today.
Marking Sexual Health Week, planners called for the NHS to move away from standard issue condoms.
The former Family Planning Association - now known as "fpa" - said men did not realise they need to obtain protection to fit them - and often if they took advice from the NHS were not warned of this.
An fpa survey found that more than third of condom users had experienced problems caused by using items of the wrong size.
And one quarter did not even know they could be purchased in different shapes and sizes.
Toni Belfield, of fpa, said: "Men come in different shapes and sizes and so do condoms.
"Poor use of condoms can have devastating consequences on people’s sexual health. Recent new figures showed the UK has the highest ever number of new cases of chlamydia and continued high rates of unwanted pregnancies3.
"Problems such as condoms splitting or coming off are directly related to people choosing the wrong size and shape or not using them correctly. When this happens, people lose trust and confidence in the method. As a direct consequence, people are then far more likely to use condoms erratically or stop using them altogether."
She added: "The NHS is the largest distributor of free condoms in the UK. We would like to see a much wider variety of condoms made available so that people can chose a fit that is right for them from a good selection."
Kathy French, sexual health adviser to the Royal College of Nursing sexual health adviser, said: "The fpa’s findings on condom usage show that there is much to be done to educate people about the different types and sizes of condoms available to them.
"Every day sexual health nurses see the devastating impact of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and are continually improving, developing and extending services to meet patients’ needs."
Meanwhile in Scotland some £15 million was promised to help improve access to sexual health services.
Saying the cash would be spent over three years, health minister Andy Kerr said: "Our message for good sexual health is ’delay until you’re ready but be safe when you are active’."
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