Rising STI rates prompt questions about sex ed for young and old
If warnings about syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia sound like throwbacks from a different era — think again. Those sexually transmitted infections aren't merely resurgent today. In some areas, the rates are spiking.
New data from Alberta shows that STI rates are the highest they've been since the late 1980s. Alberta chief medical officer of health, Karen Grimsrud, says it's reached "outbreak levels."
Reported cases of syphilis doubled in Alberta from 2014 to 2015, and gonorrhea was up by 80 per cent. And while new social media tools may have played a part in the spread of these STIs, it's hardly just younger Canadians who are being infected.
So with STI rates on the rise, is our sex ed failing both the young and old?
Guests in this segment:
- Dr. Chris Archibald, director of the surveillance and epidemiology division at the Center for Communicable Diseases and Infection Control in the Public Health Agency of Canada.
- Alex McKay, executive director of The Sex Information and Education Council of Canada.
- Lyba Spring, sexual health educator based in Toronto.
Do we need to rethink the conversation about sex education?
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This segment was produced by The Current's Karin Marley and Ines Colabrese.