subject: Notification for the safe life for football supporters during the Word Cup [print this page] Notification for the safe life for football supporters during the Word Cup
Football fans have been warned not to put their sexual health at risk during the World Cup. A leading sexual health charity have said they are concerned that excessive drinking during the football season could lead football supporters to have unprotected sex.
A poll for the Terence Higgins Trust has shown that 1 in 10 football fans aged between 18 and 34 get so drunk while watching a game they forget what they did afterwards. The poll has raised fears that as the fans travel to South Africa for the cup, they may put their lives at risk.
South Africa has the highest rate of HIV and AIDS in the world, meaning that fans who have unprotected sex could not only catch an infection that is relatively easy to treat, such as Chlamydia, they could put their lives at risk.
Once someone has had a chlamydia test, the infection can be cleared up with a course of antibiotics, but HIV can be potentially life-threatening and sufferers must spend the rest of their lives taking a powerful cocktail of anti-retroviral drugs.
Condoms are recommended as the best protection against HIV and other infections, and those who are sexually active should visit their local GUM clinic yearly.
A spokewoman for the charity, Genevieve Edwards, said: "With the UK having the worst sexual health in Western Europe and 5.2 million people living with HIV and Aids in South Africa - the highest rate in any country - it's vitally important sports fans look after themselves by using condoms throughout the World Cup this summer, whether at home or abroad."
The poll also showed that while sports lovers were likely to suffer from temporary amnesia after too many beers, they were less likely to be prompted by dutch courage to ask someone out. Out of 2,000 people 2% said that they would be prompted by drink to ask someone out, while 1% said that they met a partner while watching a football match.
To try and raise awareness of the potential for catching an STD, THT has published a guide for those travelling to South Africa, entitled "Scoring without getting an own goal." They hope that sports fans will follow their tips for lowering risk, whether they stay in England or travel to S.A.
The guide, which uses some rather fantastic football-related euphemisms ("mouthing off at the ref" for oral sex), recommends that fans take their own condoms to S.A and get an STD test when they return home.
Health authorities are doubtless extremely worried by the poll, since the many football fans fall into the groups particularly at risk both of developing an STD and failing to regularly get a chlamydia test and or a full STD test. Authorities have identified men aged between 18-24 as the group least likely to get a chlamydia test or visit their local GUM clinic.
