New safe sex campaign aims to lower Nunavik’s “alarming” STI rates

Beginning this week, Nunavik public health will be distributing promotional items bearing this new logo in the region’s schools and grocery stores to promote the practice of safe sexual health. (IMAGE COURTESY OF NRBHSS)

Nunavik’s department of public health calls sexually-transmitted infection rates across the region “alarming.”

And that’s why health officials plan to launch a sexual health campaign this week, targeted at young people across the region.

The campaign, which promotes safe sex, is centred around a new logo developed by staff at the Nunavik department of public health, who worked with youth across Nunavik to come up with the new look.

The logo features a young man and woman dressed in traditional clothing with the term “safe sex” appearing around them in English, Inuktitut and French. The red and white logo also features images of condoms.

Beginning this week, public health will start distributing promotional items bearing the new logo in the region’s schools and grocery stores to raise public awareness.

“Under the circumstances, it is now more important than ever to ensure action to better prevent and treat these STIs,” said Dr. Serge Déry, Nunavik’s director of public health, in a Feb. 13 news release.

For several years, Nunavik has had the highest documented rate in Quebec of sexually-transmitted and bloodborn infections such as chlamydia and gonorrhea.

Statistics show that Nunavimmiut aged 15 to 29 have the highest chlamydia infection rates while those aged 20 to 29 have the highest gonorrhea infection rates.

Health officials in Nunavik first noticed gonorrhea rates on the rise in 2006.

Before 2005, between 10 and 40 cases of gonorrhea were reported every year. Now about 15 cases of gonorrhea are reported in Nunavik every month.

Statistics from 2008 show that 4.4 per cent of Nunavik’s tested positive for the STI, at a rate that’s 55 times higher that in the rest of Quebec.

In 2011, 204 Nunavimmiut were found to be infected with gonorrhea, or 1.7 per cent of the population.

Sometimes referred to as the “clap,” gonorrhea is a bacterial infection transmitted by oral, genital or anal sex with another infected person.

Infected men and women might experience a burning sensation while urinating or discharge from the vagina or penis.

If untreated, gonorrhea can lead to infertility. In pregnant women, the infection can be passed to the unborn baby, causing blindness or blood infections.

Chlamydia, which can also cause infertility and put unborn babies at risk of premature birth, is another prominent STI in Nunavik, although chlamydia rates in Nunavik have been stable for many years.

But more Nunavimmiut were reported to have chlamydia infections than gonorrhea in 2011; 247 people or two per cent of the population.

Health officials says they are concerned about the rates because of the risky sexual behaviour that contributes to these types of infections.

Campaigns in recent years have tried to encourage young Nunavimmiut to use condoms, which are available free of charge in community health centres.

But Déry hopes the new campaign will help combat these infections and promote better safe sexual practices.