Wearing it

We should be talking more about condoms because they're our best tool in the fight against sexually transmitted infections.

- Nicky Pellegrino

The latest figures show a drop in reported cases of sexually transmitted infections (STIS) last year, but experts caution this isn't as encouraging as it might seem. Pandemic lockdowns affected not only people's behaviour but also access to healthcare and testing, which may have influenced the results of the ESR's surveillance over the third quarter of 2021. Generally, in recent years, rates of STIs have been on the rise here and around the world.

In New Zealand, chlamydia continues to be the most reported STI, with most cases being females aged 15-29. But diseases that have been around for centuries have also been making a comeback, with syphilis and gonorrhoea affecting, in particular, Māori, Pasifika and young people, and men who have sex with men. Other STIs have appeared – most recently an outbreak of monkeypox in the US and Europe that appears primarily to be spreading through sex among men.

And there is no cause for middle-aged heterosexuals to be complacent, says Massimo Giola, an infectious disease and sexual health physician based in Tauranga.

“At the sexual health clinics, we have another band in attendance, the generation who are 50 and over who have discovered group sex and swinging parties,” he says. “They think STIs are something only young people need to worry about.”

A recent Aotearoa Online Sex and Dating Survey backs this up – 42% of women over 50 said they never used protection against STIs.