People may think what impact does an STD has on county government actually, it is a big impact and if not kept in check it could become a serious and huge problem for generations to come. Based on a recent report on Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) a survey done over a 10 year period to try and see what the trends were and we will start by getting a better understanding of that report.
Just to keep things simple for you, instead of reading a huge 150 pages CDC STD report we have sorted and derived insights of the situation of STD/STI in the state of Utah. The report says, in the last 10 years there’s been a significant increase in STDs in not just Central Utah but within the state of Utah.
Chlamydia in Utah
As of 2018 rates of chlamydia gonorrhea and syphilis are at a 10-year high here in Utah. As reported by the State Health Department in a recent report looking at sexually transmitted diseases and infections over the past decade. 10,541 cases of Chlamydia were reported in Utah in 2018-19. (Compared to 10,135 in 2017-18)
Two-thirds of those cases were among people between the ages of 15 and 24 years of age.
Chlamydia is the most frequently reported communicable disease in Utah and the US.
Gonorrhea in Utah
Gonorrhea ranked second for the most frequently reported communicable disease in Utah with 2,895 this year (compared to 2,541 in 2017-18) reported cases Statewide in 2018.
More than 60% of the cases reported that year was among people between the ages of 20 and 34 years.
The solution to Rising STD number in Utah
These numbers have prompted a conversation among Public Health officials who see these trends as troubling and needing to be addressed immediately. The obvious solution being to target the populations most at risk but it’s not quite that simple.
Target School/Colleges
The best target place would be our schools, catching these kids before they become sexually active and get them educated. However, there is a limited amount of information that the officials can share with them for obvious reasons.
What may work best is If there’s this conversation was at home with their parents and their parents were educating them and talking to them about the risks that come along with being sexually active. But the problem is that the topic of sexually transmitted diseases isn’t being talked about at home or is often glossed over.
Have conversation
Many of us don’t have the first clue about how to go about talking to our kids or anyone about it.
But there are resources at the County Health Departments, so you don’t have to go it alone or Worse skip the conversation altogether.
Have those conversations even if they may not want to hear from you but they will listen to you but if you come up as a knowledgeable expert on those subjects then you can come across more as a parent but we need to let kids know that there are major, major consequences.
That is something that we need to change, that stigma about STDs.
Educating ourselves first
Educate yourself first before sermonizing you, young kids and people. Go to CDC STD websites go to the health department website. There are several places to educate yourself about communicable diseases and how they are transmitted. Educating people, particularly young people is more important today than it’s ever been before.
Reasons for Rising in STD number in Utah
The following are the primary reasons for the rise in STD numbers in Utah.
Easy access to Dating apps & Social media among young teenagers
The ability to find partners is literally at a person’s fingertips with the advent of social media and the trends that we are seeing the apps that students and even college students are on there is a culture of promoting risky behavior and they need to know those if they choose to take on that activity.
This increases the accessibility to anonymous sexual partners and could easily be a factor increasing the rates of the people suffering from STDs.
Unawareness of the ramifications, due to unprotected sex
Teenaged students and young adults especially found out to be unaware of the importance of protection while having sex.
One more thing has been observed as quoted by Kristine Black, a registered nurse in epidemiology at the Utah County Health Department that people are hesitant to give their partner information about their sexual history, thus spreading it to others.
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References
Profile Kristine Black: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristine-black-31844b6b/
CDC annual report: https://www.cdc.gov/std/stats18/STDSurveillance2018-full-report.pdf
