A $1.6 million awareness campaign is underway across the province in the hope of informing Albertans, especially young people, of ways to reduce the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection (STI).
“In 2011, we launched a strategy and action plan that dramatically increased awareness of STIs in Alberta,” said Dr. James Talbot, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health. “While we’re encouraged by this progress, we know that more needs to be done to reduce STI rates, increase testing numbers and encourage Albertans to change their behavior.”
The initiative will include television, online and movie theatre commercials, posters at bars, and the sexgerms website.
Sexgerms includes information on STI symptoms, locations of clinics with free STI clinics, and advice for reducing the risk of contracting an infection.
The government’s previous anti-STI campaign, 2011’s ‘Plenty of Syph’, saw a 17 per cent increase in the number of patients seeking STI testing.
Alberta’s STI numbers have seen a troubling increase of late.
From 2010 to 2012, the number of Gonorrhea cases in the province has jumped from 31.6 cases/100,000 people to 52.4 cases/100,000 people
Chlamydia cases have doubled in the past decade from 7,169 reported cases in 2002, compared to 15,529 cases in 2012
While Gonorrhea and Chlamydia are on the rise, infectious syphilis cases have dropped in the province.
- 2009 - 280 reported cases of syphilis
- 2012 - 127 reported cases of syphilis
For more information, visit sexgerms.com
