By Veena Bharwani

IF you are more worried about your son, rather than your daughter, contracting a sexually-transmitted infection (STI), think again. More younger women between the ages of 15 and 24 contract STIs than men every year since 2002.

Figures from a 2006 health survey by the Health Promotion Board (HPB) released in Parliament on Monday showed that the trend of STIs among young people has nearly doubled over the last 10 years.

Among young women alone, that rate has more than doubled since 2002.

From 1998 to 2007, the number of women in that age group who contracted STIs went up from 242 to 479 per 100,000. The number of men in the same age group who contracted STIs has gone up from 219 per 100,000 in 1998 to 362.

Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan told Parliament that a National University of Singapore (NUS) study will examine whether there is a link between sexual infections among youths with factors such as socio-economic background and education level.

Great shift in culture

The survey also revealed that in 2006, 4 per cent (or 4,179) of 104,490 Sec 3 and Sec 4 students have had sexual intercourse. Of the 4,179 students, 24 per cent - or about 1,000 students - had sex more than five times a year.

Two youth counsellors told The New Paper that one reason for more women contracting STIs is the number of sexually active women today, compared to 10 years ago. Mr Harry Low, a senior counsellor at the NUS, said: 'There has been a great shift in culture and more women are more sexually active today than 10 years ago.

'For an indication of a shift in culture, look at the bustling night life. Look at the bars and the discounts they offer to women on ladies' nights.'

He said one way to counter this is to continue to fortify sex education for youth.

The topic of safe sex is discussed in the 'Breaking Down Barriers' programme for Sec 3 students run by HPB and the Ministry of Education (MOE).

A more comprehensive and customised health prevention and sexual education programme will be launched soon by HPB and MOE. It will be taught to Normal and Express stream students separately, arguably making it the first time such a programme is being rolled out with an education-linked criteria.

This article was first published in The New Paper on Sep 18, 2008.