World Contraception Day 26th September 2011

This is the 5th year for World Contraception Day. It is hoped to highlight and improve awareness of contraception and enable people to make informed decisions on sexual and reproductive health.

Unprotected sexual intercourse is increasing across the world. Although 80% of young people acknowledge their responsibility for arranging contraception before having sex with a new partner, 44% put personal hygiene and applying perfume above contraception when preparing for a date that may lead to sex.

45% people still have unprotected sex with a new partner, an increase of 25% from 1 year ago!

32% believe that the withdrawal method is a reliable form of contraception, when it is very unreliable (up to 17 pregnancies in 100 women over 1 year using that method).

42% have a close friend or family member with an unplanned pregnancy, a rise of 30% in the last year.

It would seem that not using contraception is about not having it available at the time. Some people “forget” to use contraception and some partners “refuse” to use contraception.

Young people in the UK have easy access to knowledge about contraception and sexual health in Schools, Family Planning Clinics and on-line. What they need to do now is to put this into action. Most young people in the UK actually think that they are quite knowledgeable about sexual and reproductive health but where they fall down is on applying the knowledge to themselves.

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