Sex – worth talking about

NHS Herefordshire and Herefordshire Council are backing a national campaign which encourages young people to talk openly and honestly about sex and relationships.

The aim of the campaign is to create a positive and supportive environment in which people can have conversations about safer sex and better relationships.  At the heart of the strategy is the concept that normalising everyday conversations around sex and relations will help play an important role in tackling teenage pregnancy and poor sexual health.

The campaign is a joint venture between the Department of Health, Department for Children, Schools and Families and the National Chlamydia Screening Programme.

Critical to this new approach is the involvement of a broader audience than past campaigns have targeted, including not just young people but their parents, healthcare professionals, teachers and the wider youth workforce.

The national campaign reaffirms partnership work currently taking place in Herefordshire. For example, as personal, social, health and economic education is due to become compulsory next year, Herefordshire Council is auditing and reviewing relationship and sex education in the county’s secondary schools and pupil referral units, to ensure the curriculum encourages more open discussion about safer sex, better relationships and the dangers of alcohol consumption when making lifestyle choices.

The council and primary care trust have also been running a Family Planning Association course called Speakeasy which helps parents and carers communicate better with their children about relationships and sex. 
 
Jan Coppinger, NHS Herefordshire, said: “We’re not very good at talking about sex in the UK – it’s a bit of a taboo subject culturally.  But with targets to reduce teenage pregnancies and concerns about young people’s sexual health, we need to change our approach. 

“We welcome this new national campaign.  We are helping schools make sure they can deliver the new compulsory element of the school curriculum well, but we also need to continue the work we are doing with parents and the wider community so that our children can stay safe, build healthy relationships and making positive choices.”