September is sexual health month and a reminder that if you are sexually active, and with multiple partners, you should have a sexual health check at least once a year.
It’s estimated about one-in-six Australians will get a sexually transmitted infection in their lifetime, and early detection and treatment is the best course of action.
“Sexually transmitted infections don’t discriminate by age, location, gender, sexuality or lifestyle,” said Professor Rhonda Stuart, the Director of the South East Public Health Unit.
“In south-eastern Melbourne we continue to see increases of sexually transmitted infections – particularly chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis and mpox.
“A sexual health check is the only way to know for sure if you have a sexually transmitted infection. It’s that simple.”
In 2023, there were close to 11,000 sexually transmitted infections notified in the SEPHU catchment, which has a population of over 1.8 million Victorians. Chlamydia had the highest number of notifications, with over 7,200 cases, followed by gonorrhoea with more than 2,800 notifications.
“Sexual Health Month highlights the importance of regular sexual health checks, testing and preventing illness through safer sex,” Professor Stuart said.
Community factsheets on sexual health are available in 9 languages at Your sexual health – Better Health Channel.