Sexual health and testing

Summary

Sexual health illnesses sometimes do not have any symptoms. Often they are easily treated. There is lower uptake of screening in some communities, resulting in being diagnosed later and a worse outcome.

Who

Adults from Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities.

How

Raising awareness of sexual health screening.

Shame is a real shame

4% sounds like a low percentage in the grand scheme of things. But what if we added the phrase ‘of the UK population is living with HIV’ to the end of it? Now that creates a different story.

4% of people in the UK that have an HIV diagnosis are from an Asian background (National Aids Trust, 2019). That equates to about 4000 people. That’s about 30 double decker buses full of passengers.

But huge proportions of this group are not going for STI testing and the main driving force behind that decision?

The shame of sexual health testing

35% of Pakistanis surveyed said that shame was preventing them from getting any STI testing (Hiyos, 2021). 20% were excluded from their families as a result of their diagnosis (Avert,2019).

Imagine your own family shunning you for having type of disease that has been around for centuries. The response would not be the same with a diagnosis of malaria or lung cancer. For that sort of diagnosis, you would be considered a victim of a cruel take-over. But when it comes to STIs, you’re considered the perpetrator of your own fate.

We need to talk about sexual health testing

In this case, the suggestion might be to speak to a health professional. To get some advice from the people that know best. But for 31% of South Asians living with HIV in the UK, fear of discrimination from a health professional is what’s keeping them at bay (Avert, 2019).

So what can we do? It’s simple really. We need to talk. Talk to your friends and family, professionals and on social media. We need to educate to remove the stigma of STIs. The more we talk, the more success we have in addressing the problem.

Educating each other on what STIs are, how they are transferred and how they can be prevented is the key to creating an open discussion about the issue. Once that’s been achieved, then we can stick it to stigma and show those 4000 people that their health and wellbeing is more important than shame.