by Preventx
National STI-Q Day is held every January 14th – two weeks after New Year, and a month before Valentines Day. The awareness day was launched in order to encourage young people to take a moment to think about their sexual health – it’s a day to ask questions about sexual health, and maybe to question your own sexual health.
Two weeks is the time after which common STIs such as Chlamydia can be detected with a simple STI test kit.
Nobody likes to think that they could have a sexually transmitted infection, yet anyone who has ever had unprotected sexual contact (including, for example, oral sex) could be at risk.
Although many people don’t think they’ve got an STI, around 1-in-12 of those who get tested find that they are infected with one, and some with two or more! This may sound surprising, but as some of the most common STIs (such as Chlamydia) often don’t show any symptoms, most people who have the infection wouldn’t even realise.
Have you ever had unprotected sexual contact? Do you think you may have be at risk from an STI? Would you like to get tested for Chlamydia or other STIs? – Even if you only answered ‘yes’ to the first question, you could be at risk – there’s just one way to be certain if you’ve become infected – get an STI test!
To read more about STI-Q Day, see www.stiq.org.uk.
About the author:
Claire is the Senior Digital Marketing Executive at Preventx.