Press release: An STI is diagnosed in a young person every 4 minutes in England

Latest statistics from Public Health England (PHE) show that a case of chlamydia or gonorrhoea is diagnosed in a young person every 4 minutes in England. There were over 144,000 diagnoses of these sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in people aged 15 to 24 in 2017.

PHE’s ‘Protect Against STIs’ campaign highlights the increased likelihood of contracting a life-changing STI if people have sex without a condom. The impact of having an STI is significant, particularly if left untreated as they can cause major health issues, including pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, swollen or painful testicles, and reactive arthritis. In pregnant women, STIs can lead to higher risk of miscarriage or stillbirth.

The majority of STIs (like chlamydia) are symptomless, and gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics and at risk of becoming untreatable in the future. PHE’s campaign, therefore, encourages condom use, as prevention is better than cure.

Rates of STIs in England remain high across England, and there has been a significant year-on-year increase in certain cases like gonorrhoea (22% increase from 2016 to 2017).

In 2017, there were approximately 420,000 diagnoses of STIs in England and of those, chlamydia accounted for nearly half of them (200,000 diagnosis of chlamydia and over 44,000 diagnoses of gonorrhoea).

A large proportion of these STI diagnoses are amongst young people aged 15 to 24, who account for 63% of chlamydia diagnoses and 37% of gonorrhoea diagnoses.

In a bid to get the nation’s young adults talking about and having safe sex, TV personality Sam Thompson (who appears in Made in Chelsea and Celebs Go Dating) hits the streets to find out young people’s attitudes to sexual health and condom use.

In the first of 2 new films, Sam Thompson and Dr Sara Kayat visit a Further Education College to speak to young people about how much they know about sexual health.

Sam then heads to Warwick with Dr Joe Peterson Camp, to meet a number of students to talk to them about their own experiences of sexual health and uncover their attitude towards condoms.

Dr Hamish Mohammed, Consultant STI Scientist at Public Health England, said:

Young people are more likely to be diagnosed with an STI than people aged 25 and older. STIs present a real threat to young people, and without using condoms, young people are putting themselves and their partners at risk of getting an STI.

Sam Thompson said:

I’m on a mission to encourage young people across the country to use condoms, with the help of Dr Sara and Dr Joe. We’re not talking about safe sex or normalising the use of condoms enough, and finding out all the facts about STIs has taught me so much, which I want to let everyone know about too, so we can limit the spread of STIs.

The most shocking thing I’ve learned is that some STIs are symptomless and that some are actually becoming harder to treat – that’s scary. The best thing I’ve learned is that if you’re under the age of 25, you can get condoms for free by just looking online for a free condom finder; I’m spreading that message far and wide.

There’s really no excuse for people not to use condoms and we should all feel empowered to use them and to see condoms as a normal part of a healthy sex life.

TV Doctor and GP, Dr Sara Kayat, said:

Rates of STIs remain high in young people, and we want to make sure people know that the best way to protect themselves from getting an STI, is to use a condom.

Often STIs don’t have any symptoms, with 4 in 10 cases of chlamydia in women and around half of the cases in men symptomless, and they can have serious consequences.

You can easily contract an STI or pass one on without even knowing it, so – as I tell my patients – make sure you use a condom.

The campaign launches on 25 October with a nationwide social media, digital audio, Out of Home advertising & PR campaign targeted at 16 to 24 year olds. It is being supported by a range of partners, including the Family Planning Association (FPA) and British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH).

Background

  1. The films created by Sam Thompson, along with campaign advertising and images can be downloaded here.
  2. Dr Joe Peterson Camp is a doctor at Homerton Hospital in its Sexual Health and HIV Service.
  3. Dr Sara Kayat is a GP at Grays Inn Road Medical Practice. Her main areas of expertise are Sexual and Reproductive Health, as well as surgical specialties like ENT and Orthopaedics.
  4. The FPA is supporting the ‘Protect against STIs’ campaign by helping to deliver sexual health information and support to key audiences via their Sexwise website.

Public Health England press office



Press release: Michael Gove announces new funding to protect bees

Environment Secretary Michael Gove has today (25 October) launched a £60,000 fund to develop and test pollinator habitat mapping – identifying where new habitats will provide the greatest benefit for bees and other pollinators.

This will help to boost the number of pollinator-friendly landscapes and protect the health of our bees, wasps, beetles, butterflies, moths and hoverflies, as set out in the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan.

These species are critical to our countryside and the food industry through the work they do to pollinate plants and crops.

The project will involve partnering with organisations such as Natural England, Buglife, The Wildlife Trusts and other bodies working on habitat mapping and the conservation of pollinators.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said:

Bees and other pollinators are vital contributors to the beauty of our landscapes, our economy and our £100 billion food industry.

Today’s announcement to fund pollinator mapping shows our clear commitment to help these wonderful creatures to thrive by creating wildflower rich areas around our towns and countryside.

Ben Bradley MP has run a brilliant campaign to better protect our pollinators and to leave our environment in a better state for future generations. He deserves all our thanks.

The government is also announcing today investment in two projects to create pollinator-friendly landscapes:

  • The Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s “West Country Buzz” project in North Devon which seeks to grow a partnership of land managers, farmers and NGOs to improve and connect habitats for bees.
  • The Martin Down farmer “Super Cluster” in Hampshire, led by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, farmers and landowners. This will provide training and advice to enable three farmer clusters to protect and enhance wildlife, including pollinators.

The value of the UK’s 1,500 species of pollinators to crops is estimated to be £400 – 680 million per year due to improved productivity. Past losses of flower-rich habitats are known to have driven a loss of diversity in our pollinators, which is why this funding is vital to help protect their future.

Ben Bradley MP, who has been campaigning on pollinator habitat mapping, said:

I am pleased that the government is taking action to support pollinators and that they have incorporated ideas from my Pollinator Bill within their plans. Providing funding for pollinator mapping and supporting the creation of wildflower rich habitat will help protect our bees and other insects including butterflies and moths.

This announcement is great news for our environment, and it shows the Secretary of State’s commitment to protecting our pollinators and the Government’s commitment to a greener future.

Craig Macadam, Conservation Director at Buglife, said:

Buglife welcomes the funding promised by the Environment Secretary as a great first step towards securing the future of our precious pollinators.

Once mapping is completed more resource will clearly be needed to deliver the on-the-ground change that is needed. Coupled with the ban on neonicotinoids this is real affirmative action in the battle to arrest the decline of bees and other pollinators and preserve the buzz of life.

Joan Edwards, Director of Public Affairs at The Wildlife Trusts, says:

The investment in spatial planning to support our pollinators is a welcome start in the essential exercise of mapping the nature we have – and the nature we need. We need to see this approach scaled-up across the country and for all of our wildlife to give our natural world a chance to recover and to make sure that everyone benefits from a thriving environment.

In April 2018, the government voted in favour of further restrictions on the use of three neonicotinoids due to their harmful effects on bees and other pollinators. The measures will come into force at the end of the year.

The National Pollinator Strategy is a 10 year plan which sets out how government, beekeepers, conservation groups, farmers and researchers can work together to improve the status of the pollinating insects in England.

The government has also committed to bringing forward the first Environment Bill in over 20 years, set to be introduced in 2019.



Speech: Security Council briefing on the UN Fact-Finding Mission in Burma

Statement ahead of Procedural Vote

I would like to make a statement on behalf of the United Kingdom, Cote d’Ivoire, France, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Sweden, and the United States of America.

We have read carefully the letter that was sent on the 18th of October from you and colleagues Mr President.

We have requested the Chair of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar to brief us today. The report produced by the Mission is the most authoritative and comprehensive account of the human rights violations that have occurred in the country since 2011. It details, in particular, the events that took place in Rakhine State on and around 25 August 2017 and led to the forcible displacement of over 725,000 refugees across an international border into Bangladesh.

As we will hear, the Fact-Finding Mission’s findings are of the gravest nature.

The report concludes that “gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law have been committed in Myanmar since 2011 and that many of these violations undoubtedly amount to the gravest crimes under international law”.

It makes a specific recommendation to the Security Council to “ensure accountability for crimes under international law committed in Myanmar”.

Ensuring the prevention of such crimes – genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity – is one of the reasons that the United Nations and the Security Council were established in the first place.

As members of the Security Council we are today faced with a situation that clearly endangers international peace and security, and also a specific request for this Council to act.

It is therefore absolutely without doubt the Security Council’s responsibility to hear these allegations concerning the gravest crimes under international law related to this situation and to deliberate on how to proceed, and so Mr President, we will vote in favour of this meeting.

Statement during Security Council meeting

Thank you Mr President to the Chairman for that compelling, and shocking and moving briefing.

As I said on behalf of the nine Council members that called for this meeting, the briefing we have heard today concerns allegations of the gravest crimes against international law – genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

On this day in 1945, the UN came into being. We agree with you Mr Chairman; What is the United Nations for – What is the Security Council for if it cannot deal with some of worst things that a government can do to its own people?

The Security Council has a solemn responsibility to consider these matters and decide how to proceed.

Despite the objections of Council members here today, we believe it is right that this meeting is taking place. I will come in my remarks to what should happen in our view after this meeting.

Mr President, I wanted to draw out two points from the Mission’s report and Mr Darusman’s briefing today.

The first concerns the situation in Rakhine which is an “enduring catastrophe”.

Human rights violations against the people of Rakhine – ethnic Rakhine as well as Rohingya – continue to this day. The Rohingya in particular continue to face daily intimidation, restrictions on their freedom of movement, access to markets, education and healthcare, continued discrimination and denial of their right to citizenship. As the Chairman said; the Rohingya Muslims who are left behind in Rakhine are not safe and cannot be safe and the Rohingya who are in the camps in Bangladesh cannot go home until these matters are addressed.

Although the Burmese authorities have previously claimed that 81 out of 88 of the Annan Commission recommendations have been implemented, there is in fact, Mr. President, very little evidence that sincere efforts have been made to address the acute deprivation of human rights that lies at the root cause of this crisis.

And although we have previously welcomed the signing of the MoU between the government, UNHCR, and UNDP, those UN agencies continue to be denied access to large parts of Rakhine.

The conditions for safe, voluntary and dignified repatriation are manifestly not in place. Any calls for immediate repatriation in the current circumstances are deeply irresponsible. We need first to see the Burmese government cooperate fully with the United Nations and make genuine progress to change the situation, in line with the Annan Commission recommendations.

In the meantime, the UK commends the government and people of Bangladesh for continuing to show great generosity in continuing to host the refugee population and cooperate in good faith with the Burmese government. The needs of the refugees continue to be great – including protection, legal status, assistance – and we call on the international community to intensify its support through the UN’s Joint Response Plan.

My second point Mr President; Rakhine is the most egregious example of the Burmese military’s conduct. But it is not the only one. The report makes clear the Burmese military is conducting human rights violations across the country against other ethnic communities, most notably in Kachin and Shan states.

Accountability is vital to get justice for the Rohingya and others who have suffered. It is necessary to give the Rohingya confidence that they can return to Myanmar/Burma. But, fundamentally, it is necessary in order to prevent the Burmese military from committing these same crimes again and again against the people of Myanmar.

It is vital Mr President that this Council acts to uphold the Charter. I take very seriously what the Chairman said about the need to send a signal from this Council to other countries around the world who’s governments may be tempted to take a leaf out of the Burmese military’s horrific playbook and execute such crimes on their own people.

Myanmar/Burma has established a domestic Commission of Inquiry. We note the Fact Finding Mission’s conclusion that this Commission “cannot provide a real avenue for accountability”.

We note also the six Generals who the report mentions with Command Responsibility starting with the senior General.

We note too that previous commissions of inquiries have been a whitewash and they have preserved the military’s long-standing impunity. The government has repeatedly denied the crimes described to us today. It has locked up journalists who have exposed government wrongdoing, most notably the two Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo – I repeat the UK’s call for their immediate release.

If there is to be any faith in this latest Commission of Inquiry, it should be independent and report transparently on its progress. It should operate according to international standards – as the Fact Finding Mission itself did – and it should cooperate with other bodies gathering evidence such as the Fact Finding Mission and the ongoing Independent Mechanism established by the Human Rights Council earlier this month. We have repeatedly asked the Burmese government to work closely with the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the findings of the Commission of Inquiry should lead to an independent judicial process where all – including the military – are equal before the law.

Otherwise, if there is not going to be domestic accountability in Burma, then the UK believes that we must consider all options including ICC referral or an ad-hoc tribunal.

Mr President, I never thought in my diplomatic career that I would hear a briefing to the Security Council a briefing as compelling but detailing such awful treatment of a people as we have heard today.

The crimes we have heard echo those committed in Rwanda and Srebrenica some twenty years ago. The Security Council acted in those two situations. It acted too late to prevent them which is all to our lasting shame but it did act to ensure accountability was brought to bear on those responsible. As you have said Mr Chairman, national sovereignty is a not a licence to commit crimes against humanity. It is not a licence to wreak such havoc on the livelihoods and lives of your own people.

The UK now plans to work with our partners to press for progress in creating conditions so that the refugees can return but also so that we can have accountability that genuinely ends the Burmese military’s impunity.

In the face of the acts we have heard described today, we believe this is a responsibility that the Security Council owes not just to the Rohingya, not just to peoples of Burma but it owes them to people everywhere around the world.

Thank you



Press release: Foreign Secretary in first bilateral visit to Switzerland for more than 20 years

placeholder

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has arrived in Switzerland for the first bilateral visit by the UK’s most senior diplomat since 1996.

Both the UK and Switzerland are renegotiating their relations with the EU, with both seeking to protect national sovereignty whilst holding high ambitions for close co-operation with the EU across a broad range of areas.

The UK and Switzerland enjoy close ties through trade, culture and shared values, and work closely together to tackle many global challenges of the present day.

The Foreign Secretary said:

Both the UK and Switzerland are proud, independently-minded nations, but we both understand the value of having a deep and close relationship with the EU.

While our own EU exit negotiations progress, we are also working hard with our friends in Switzerland to ensure our bilateral relations continue to flourish for many years to come.

Trade between our two countries is worth more than £30 billion a year; together we host all of the ‘top 10’ universities in Europe; and we continue to unite in tackling many global issues, including modern slavery and cyber crime.

This visit will allow me to continue important discussions with the President and Foreign Minister on the huge potential for greater co-operation between two great European nations.

Further information

Published 24 October 2018



Press release: Foreign Secretary in first bilateral visit to Switzerland for more than 20 years

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has arrived in Switzerland for the first bilateral visit by the UK’s most senior diplomat since 1996.

Both the UK and Switzerland are renegotiating their relations with the EU, with both seeking to protect national sovereignty whilst holding high ambitions for close co-operation with the EU across a broad range of areas.

The UK and Switzerland enjoy close ties through trade, culture and shared values, and work closely together to tackle many global challenges of the present day.

The Foreign Secretary said:

Both the UK and Switzerland are proud, independently-minded nations, but we both understand the value of having a deep and close relationship with the EU.

While our own EU exit negotiations progress, we are also working hard with our friends in Switzerland to ensure our bilateral relations continue to flourish for many years to come.

Trade between our two countries is worth more than £30 billion a year; together we host all of the ‘top 10’ universities in Europe; and we continue to unite in tackling many global issues, including modern slavery and cyber crime.

This visit will allow me to continue important discussions with the President and Foreign Minister on the huge potential for greater co-operation between two great European nations.

Further information

Media enquiries

For journalists