The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) has started handing out condoms to over-60s to try and reduce the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections in the senior generation.
GP surgeries, community venues and food banks in Derbyshire will offer the free contraceptives and health information as part of the “Jiggle, Wiggle” awareness campaign.
Official figures show that between 2016 and 2017 the number of men contracting gonorrhoea and women contracting herpes over the age of 65 grew by 25%.
A spokesperson from the Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust told The Telegraph: “There has been a rise in the number of STIs and HIV diagnosis in older residents and this group of people are sometimes forgotten in sexual health campaigns and interventions.
“The campaign will target an older demographic, making it clear that safer sex still applies and also promoting that sexual health services are for them too – challenging their view that services are ‘not for them’”.
Higher divorce rates may be contributing to the trend, with men who have had vasectomies and post-menopausal women potentially exhibiting a degree of carelessness.
The introduction of more senior online dating platforms is also believed to be a significant factor.
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