Sexual Health Tests: What You Need When

Published in Clicks Clubcard Magazine, June 2015. Knowing your ‘status’ isn’t only about HIV. Getting checked out for other STIs is crucial to protect your health – and your fertility. Flavoured condoms for everyone? This is not the usual type of headline you see in newspapers… But with Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi recently announcing that the Department of Health was going to be handing these out at universities, it’s a clear sign that South Africa has come a long way in finding solutions to curb the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STI). The innovative move comes off the back of research by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) that more and more South Africans are having unsafe sex and have no fear of getting infected with HIV/Aids. And it’s not just varsity students – the stats show that this attitude is worsening across all age groups. The good news – and boy do we need some – is that because our country has far-reaching treatment programmes fewer people are dying from the disease. Read the full article here.