Practically every mention of condoms in the second draft of the National Sexual Health Policy has been removed, The Malta Independent on Sunday reported.
Consultant in Genito-Urinary (GU) medicine Philip Carabot said a National Sexual Health Policy was first urgently requested by the government in 1999 in order to be in line with EU suggestions before membership. A multi-disciplinary committee had been set up and a wide-ranging sexual health policy was drafted. This was subsequently rejected and a re-write was ordered.
The STIPC (Sexually Transmitted Infections Prevention Committee), a multi-disciplinary team was nominated by the minister to advise on sexual health matters. This committee disagreed with the amended document that included, among other things, the deletion of practically every mention of condoms, Dr Carabot said.
The Maltese newspaper quoted from the GU Clinic’s annual report for 2007 that Dr Carabot clearly stated that “The ‘revised’ document, drawn up seven years ago and unanimously rejected by the STIPC as being too weak, should be shelved permanently and re-written”.
Dr Carabot commented that although condoms are not the answer to all our problems, they are an essential in prevention adding that the ‘revised’ draft policy was out of date in many areas and included a number of inaccuracies.
A proper sexual health policy would also quantify the problem and examine the effectiveness or otherwise of the type of sex education given. It would also need to look into the ever-increasing number of teenage pregnancies and establish ways of tackling the problem, said Dr Carabot.
Besides examining the effectiveness of the type of sex education given, the National Sexual Health Policy would need to look seriously into sexual health promotion, as well as the services provided in both primary and secondary care, Dr Carabot added. Young teenagers have to be given utmost priority, particularly with the ever-increasing evidence that they are having sex at a very young age. The policy would have to go into the different approaches that should be used to serve different groups in society – heterosexuals, gays, teenagers, the prison population and drug users, as well as the immigrant population.
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