Flash Required.

Healthy Sexy & Wise - Febuary 2003

 Volume 1, Issue 1, 2003

Editors Note

Welcome to the first edition of Healthy Sexy & Wise, FPWA’s new quarterly e-newsletter.

Whether you are a client, teacher, a professional with an interest in sexual health, or you work in the health field, Healthy Sexy & Wise is designed to have something of interest for everyone.

If you would like future issues of Healthy Sexy & Wise emailed to you Contact Us.

In this issue:

Please feel free to circulate and distribute this newsletter to anyone you know that may benefit from the information. They can go on the mailing list by emailing me their details.

Hope you enjoy our e-news and if you have any suggestions, ideas or comments about the newsletter, please email me.  The next edition of Healthy Sexy & Wise will be out in late May.

Rebecca Smith
Editor

FPWA Events

National Condom Day

National Condom Day on February 14 was a huge success this year. Over 35 organisations around WA organised displays and distributed condoms in their local area, encouraging people to ‘Say it with a Condom’.

The aim of the day was to raise awareness of the need to practice safe sex at a time when the focus is on romance and passion – Valentines Day. While sexually transmissible infections (STIs) like genital warts and herpes are not thought of in a romantic sense, on a day when love is foremost in everyone’s mind FPWA wants people to think about the risks involved of having unprotected sex.

To celebrate National Condom Day, FPWA held stalls in Perth and Fremantle, distributing condoms and safe sex information to more than 700 people. The annual event is designed to make people feel that condoms are a normal thing to talk about, and to help them bring up the subject with their sexual partner – the more comfortable people are talking about condoms, the more likely they are to use them.

Ken from Wilson was the lucky winner of our competition after correctly answering a safe sex question and guessing the number of condoms in a jar. Congratulations Ken!

A big thanks to everyone who was involved this year – if you would like to participate in National Condom Day next year, keep an eye out for details in early January on our website.

Big Day Out

FPWA held a stall again at the 2003 Big Day Out on February 2, distributing over 1500 condoms to concert-goers at this youth-focused event. Visitors to the stall also took part in a safe sex quiz and received frisbees as prizes for answering questions correctly. The frisbees also promoted safe sex, displaying the message, ‘Make sure this is the only thing you catch – use a condom’, and proved to be a big hit among the crowd.

Youth at highest risk of chlamydia

Chlamydia is one of Australia’s most common STIs (sexually transmissible infections) among men and women aged 15-25 – but some people don’t even know they have it. This is because many people with the disease don’t show any symptoms, so they accidentally pass it on to their partners through unprotected sex.

Chlamydia can be detected by a simple test involving a urine sample and/or a swab from the cervix. It is easily treatable and can usually be cleared up with a dose of antibiotics. Both partners should be tested and treated to avoid infecting one another again.

If left untreated, chlamydia can cause serious health problems for both men and women, including infertility. Often young women having unprotected sex worry most about an unwanted pregnancy, when in actual fact they may unknowingly be risking their chances of ever becoming pregnant.

Last year, health authorities in WA were notified of 3088 cases of chlamydia, up from 2774 the year before.* The number of people with chlamydia is probably even higher as many cases are undiagnosed - FPWA often finds out clients have chlamydia when they come in for something else, such as a pregnancy test.

Over the last 12 months or so Quarry Health Centre for Under 25s has seen 5% of clients diagnosed and successfully treated for chlamydia, up from 2.7% the previous year. This increased figure reflects the centre’s client base of young, sexually active people who change partners more often than older people and have a lack of awareness of STIs.

Always practicing safe sex reduces the risk of contracting chlamydia or another STI. FPWA in Northbridge and Quarry Health Centre in Fremantle offer confidential STI testing and treatment.

*Communicable Diseases Network Australia - National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System. http://www1.health.gov.au/cda/Source/CDA-index.cfm (Accessed Jan 2003)

New sexual health clinic for men

A sexual health clinic with a focus on men has started at Quarry Health Centre for Under 25’s in Fremantle. “Mainly Men” covers all aspects of sexual health, with an emphasis on HIV and Hepatitis C management. The free service, running every Wednesday between 2-5pm, provides testing and treatment for STIs (sexually transmissible infections) as well as safe sex education and contraceptive advice.

The clinic is a joint initiative between Quarry Health Centre and Fremantle B2 Clinic. Appointments are for 30 minutes and anonymous testing is available if requested.

FPWA recognised that the thought of going to a hospital for STI testing can be quite daunting for some men and that the introduction of a clinic would mean that more men would come along and get tested and treated if necessary. This is especially important as STI levels in the community are on the rise.

While the clinic is aimed primarily at men, women are also very welcome. All clients can be assured that their sexual health concerns will be addressed confidentially and in a caring and sensitive manner. Ring Quarry on 9430 4544 to make an appointment.

Contraception news

by Dr Angela Cooney

Implanon
Many WA women relying on the contraceptive implant Implanon to protect them from pregnancy have been understandably concerned by recent media reports regarding pregnancies occurring in women using this form of contraception. I would like to point out that there is no contraceptive method currently available that is 100% effective. However, the number of pregnancies as reported in the media represent a total failure rate of less than 0.1% in woman presently using Implanon in Australia.

Implanon 

In our training of doctors to insert the implants we have, in the last year, been emphasising the need for the doctor and the woman to both check, immediately after insertion, that the device can be felt in her arm. The timing of the insertion is also important. If a woman is 4 hours pregnant when the implant goes in, no test in the world can detect this! So all doctors need to be aware of the possibility of pregnancy and ask the woman to return for a pregnancy test if there is any doubt at all. (The picture on the right shows the size of the implant.)

For women who have heard about this issue in the media and are worried that it may apply to them – if you can feel

it in your arm, stop worrying. If you can’t feel it – start using condoms, and see your doctor as soon as possible. An ultrasound examination will soon reveal if it is there or not.

Yasmin
About halfway through last year a new contraceptive pill was released on the Australian market. In the research done prior to commercial release, Yasmin has been associated with a reduction in fluid retention and an overall small weight loss rather than the gain frequently seen with other pills. It also has some effect on reducing acne and greasy skin but, like the other pills with these benefits, such as Diane and Marvelon, is quite expensive compared to some of the older pills. Don’t expect this to be a substitute for a sensible diet and exercise, as the usual weight loss is around one kilogram, but this may be an option for women who have experienced problems on other pills, or who feel they would benefit from it. There have been some concerns raised regarding an increased risk of blood clots (thromboembolism) with Yasmin, however there have been no research studies to examine this issue. An increase in the clotting ability of the blood seems to be something that can potentially affect any user of any combined pill (one that contains oestrogen).

Emergency Contraception (EC)
The Postinor-2 emergency contraceptive pill has now been available for about 7 months in Australia. It requires a prescription from a doctor and consists of two pills – one to be taken as soon as possible after unprotected sex and the second after 12 hours. There are some doctors who disagree with the method and refuse to prescribe it - this is usually because of a poor understanding of how the method works. Any pregnancy already existing will not be harmed by the pill, but if a woman has not yet ovulated in her cycle, the hormones in the pill can interfere with the delicate process of egg release. Even after ovulation, sperm need a few days in the female tubes before they are capable of fertilising the egg and the emergency pill upsets sperm movement so that most of them get nowhere near the egg. Previously, due to only low-dose pills being available in Australia, women had to take a large number pills to reach the pregnancy-preventing dose required for emergency contraception, but with the introduction of Postinor-2 this is no longer the case.

I have been promoting the suggestion that GPs who refuse to prescribe emergency contraception should announce this with a sign outside their surgeries, so that women will not waste time, money and emotional energy approaching them. Women frequently say that they were made to feel dirty or promiscuous by a refusal, and the same applies for referrals for termination of pregnancy. Members of the public can help in this regard – if you have had a bad experience in this way, either send a letter to the doctor’s practice or contact the Medical Board of WA to lodge a complaint.

Website news

STI and HIV/AIDS Statistics - National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System

http://www1.health.gov.au/cda/Source/CDA-index.cfm

The Communicable Diseases Network Australia - National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System collates data on the notifiable diseases. The advantages of accessing this data online rather than in print are that the figures are current and the information is presented in a much more useful way.

On the initial page you select from the list of all the notifiables and gain access to tables showing all notifications of that disease received by health authorities in the last ten years. One table shows the monthly trends and the other shows the notifications by State and Territory.

These pages are part of the Communicable Diseases and Health Protection Branch area of the Australian Department of Health and Ageing site.

Book reviews

FPA Health. Contraception, healthy choices: a contraceptive clinic in a book. Marrickville: Choice Books, 2002.

Contraception - Healthy Choices is an easy-to-read, up-to-date Australian guide for people wanting to make informed choices about the method of contraception they use. Clear information is given about all currently available types of contraception for men and women, as well as new methods that will be available in Australia in the near future. Each chapter includes a series of common questions such as:
 - How does the form of contraception work?
 - How effective is it?
 - Why would I want to choose this method?
 - Are there any reasons why I could not use it?
There is also information on male and female reproductive parts, abortion,  and using condoms to reduce the incidence of sexually transmissible infections (STIs).

This book is available for loan from FPWA library, and can be purchased in the book shop for $22.

Clinical practice in sexually transmissible infections.  McMillan, A; Young, H; Olgivie, MM; & Scott, GR. . London: Saunders, 2002.

This new, one-stop reference source combines authoritative coverage of clinical practice in sexually transmissible infections (STIs) and sexual health with a comprehensive collection of 500 colour photographs. Information on each infection is organised under the headings: introduction, virology, pathology, pathogenesis, epidemiology, clinical features, complications of infection, laboratory diagnosis, management, prevention of transmission and special circumstances. Emphasising the clinical approach to the management of the patient with a sexually transmissible infection, it contains sufficient basic science to allow the reader to examine critically the rationale behind the available diagnostic tests and treatments. There are also chapters on human sexuality, clinical investigation of the patient, prevention of STIs, and social, ethical and medico-legal aspects of STIs. The text is well indexed, and includes the Centre for Disease Control's guidelines in each chapter where applicable.

Clinical practice in sexually transmissible infections is available in the reference section at FPWA library.

FPWA Healthy Sexy & Wise e-news disclaimer

This communication contains information that is confidential and the copyright of FPWA or a third party. This information may not be reproduced without permission from FPWA.

If you are not the intended recipient of this communication please notify the sender and FPWA on (08) 9227 6177, delete the email and attachments from your system and destroy any copies you have taken of the email and attachments.

The information in this newsletter has been produced by FPWA for the purpose of disseminating health information free of charge for the benefit of the public. It is not a substitute for independent professional advice. Nothing contained in this newsletter is intended to be used as medical advice and it is not intended to be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, nor should it be used for therapeutic purposes or as a substitute for your own health professional's advice. FPWA does not accept any liability for any injury, loss or damage incurred by use of or reliance on the information and recommends that the recipient contact FPWA or their medical practitioner directly for further, more specific, information.

FPWA does not represent, warrant and/or guarantee that the integrity of this communication has been maintained nor that the communication is free of errors, virus, interception or interference.

Healthy, Sexy & Wise e-news is produced by FPWA. If you wish to unsubscribe to this newsletter, please Contact Us.

FPWA
70 Roe Street
PO Box 141
Northbridge WA 6865
Phone: 9227 6177
Fax: 9227 6871

Page last updated Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:36