Shocking Stats: Nearly 200 Northern Territory kids with STDs
Posted by Amber Robinson at 11:14 AM on July 13, 2009
Here are some sobering figures for your Monday morning.
Last year there were 191 cases of either gonorrhoea, chlamydia, syphilis or trichomoniasis reported in Northern Territory kids aged 14 or younger.
The figures from the NT Health Department, which are published every six months, show the number of cases in children are rising.
In children aged nine or younger there were 21 recorded cases of chlamydia and one of gonorrhoea – that total being nearly double the number of STDs reported for the same age group in 2007.
There has been a trend of annual increases since 2005. In that year, 139 cases were reported, in 2006 it was 178 and in 2007 it was 189 cases.
Some of the increase from 2007-2008 is being attributed to increased testing and new laws that require anyone to report suspected sexual activity of youth under 16.
There has also been a surge in STD infection rates in all age groups around Australia, which indicates that the safe sex message isn’t getting through.
Nevertheless, sexual infections in children are indicative of abuse — and that’s what’s really frightening.
[Source]
There are currently no comments.