“There has been a boom in sexually transmitted diseases among young people who snub condoms in Italy. Unfortunately, this is a certainty: the latest data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) tell us that throughout Europe, and particularly in our country, there has been a boom in sexually transmitted infections. In Italy, gonorrhea among 15/17 year olds has even increased sixfold in the space of a few years (when in Europe it has doubled), chlamydia has more than doubled and syphilis has tripled”. The alarm was raised on the eve of World Sexual Well-Being Day, which is celebrated tomorrow, September 4, by Piero Stettini, psychotherapist and clinical sexologist from Savona, vice president of the Italian Federation of Scientific Sexology (FISS) and member of the National Observatory for Childhood and Adolescence (ONIA).
And Onia and Fiss themselves, commenting on the results contained in the report drawn up by the WHO Regional Office for Europe, carried out as part of the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, do not hide their concern for “the increase in risky sexual behavior among young people, which requires the immediate start of broad and incisive action on an educational and preventive level, by including extensive sexual education in the school curriculum, as has long been requested by the most important international agencies, from the World Health Organization (WHO), to UNESCO, to the European Union itself”.
The data, compared to those of ten years ago – a note reports – highlight a decrease in condom use that affects several countries, with some having recorded more dramatic reductions than others. The researchers interviewed over 242 thousand fifteen-year-olds in 42 countries. Based on the responses, only six out of ten 15-year-olds said they had used a condom in the last report. In particular, between 2014 and 2022 the percentage of adolescents who had used it dropped from 70% to 61% among boys and from 63% to 57% among girls. Adolescents from low-income families – it says – were more likely to have not used a condom or the contraceptive pill than their wealthier peers (33% versus 25%).
“We have observed over the years a progressive and constant decline in the use of protection methods by young people and the very young, just over six out of ten use condoms and 17-year-olds use them even less than 15-year-olds – explains Stettini – There has been, it is true, a small increase in the use of the contraceptive pill (with a percentage that does not reach 15%, when in countries such as Holland, Sweden, Denmark we are at 50-60%) but, as far as sexually transmitted infections are concerned, the pill does not provide any protection, even if as a recent study of ours shows, 1 in 5 boys/girls believes that it also protects against them. The HBSC study also highlights an increasing use of coitus interruptus (almost 6 out of 10 boys/girls practice it) and emergency contraception, which more than one in 10 15/17-year-olds turn to”.
“A disturbing picture – underlines Stettini – where the most worrying thing is that, in the face of these realities, the institutions are, with isolated exceptions, stationary or very little active, with young people who are left alone to face risks that can seriously harm their lives, their health, their future”.
In Italy “the situation is more critical – the expert points out – as there is still no law and national guidelines that ensure and direct information and training activities aimed at young people on sexuality. Unlike almost all European countries, sexual education is not included in school curricula and in recent years several valid, albeit isolated, initiatives and programs (many were activated by public Family Counseling Centers), have been scaled down or interrupted due to the lack of adequate investments”.
September 4th is the World Sexual Health Day promoted by the WHO, an opportunity to renew the message of prevention. For Stettini it is “an opportunity to seize, but not to launch slogans”. “Message or spot declarations are not enough, it is necessary for all of us citizens to take responsibility – he warns – parents, professionals and health organizations, schools, institutions, to reach the political decision makers, demanding a serious, scientifically founded and continuous investment in defense of the health of our young people who have been loudly calling for the introduction of sexual education in schools for a long time”.
Among the projects aimed at sexual education that have been active in Italy for a few years – the note reports – there is EduForIST, funded by the Ministry of Health that operates in six regions: Tuscany, Lazio, Campania, Puglia, Lombardy and Friuli. Aimed at students of lower and upper secondary schools, it involves 4 universities, a large group of experts and volunteers from many associations. “It is an ambitious project – observes Stettini – of education on affective and sexuality aimed at promoting not only scientifically correct knowledge, but also personal and relational attitudes and skills that ensure both the prevention of risks and, as requested by the WHO itself, the positive development of the sexual health of young people”.
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