BRITISH TEENAGERS HAVE WORST SEXUAL HEALTH IN EUROPE

British teenagers have the worst record for sexual disease, pregnancy
and abortions in Europe, according to a paper published last week
which asks whether a "fundamental malaise" in the culture is
responsible.

The plight of British teenagers is laid bare in an editorial in the
British Medical Journal, which says the UK needs to learn from Europe,
and suggests a combination of reasons for the poor sexual health of
adolescents. Britain lags behind in education, many more families live
in poverty, and parents, who work the longest hours in Europe, are
never there.

The British teenage record on sex, diseases and abortions is mirrored
in other unhealthy habits. Britain's adolescents have the worst record
for experimenting with illicit drugs in Europe, 15-year-old boys in
Wales and Northern Ireland and girls in Wales and Scotland are the
most likely in Europe to drink alcohol at least weekly, and Welsh
girls are near the top of the European league in smoking.Martin McKee,
professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene
and Tropical Medicine, asks in an editorial in the BMJ whether the
health problems of British youth have their roots in British life or
culture. A study published in the same issue of the journal by Angus
Nicoll and colleagues from the public health laboratory service in
London and Cardiff shows teenage sexual health is not just bad, but
getting worse.

Between 1995 and 1996 in England and Wales, terminations increased by
14.5 per cent among the under-16s and 12.5 per cent among 16- to
19-year-olds. There were more births too, up by 6.7 per cent and 4.6
per cent respectively.

Sexually transmitted diseases are climbing. Cases of gonorrhoea were
falling, but between 1995 and 1996 the number of cases in 16- to
19-year-old women jumped by 34 per cent and by 30 per cent in men.
Chlamydia, a leading cause of infertility in later life, has risen by
16.5 per cent in young women and 17.9 per cent in men.

Even before this deterioration, says Professor McKee, the UK had the
highest teenage pregnancy rate in western Europe. Birth-rates among
15- to 19-year-olds were seven times those in the Netherlands, where
similar numbers are having sex but are more likely to use
contraception.

So what is the UK doing wrong? "Education is a possibility," he
writes. "A good general education is a major factor in delaying
pregnancy, and education level is an important determinant of smoking
rates." But although the UK does well by its high-flyers, it lags
below the rest of Europe in getting literacy, numeracy and basic
skills into those at the bottom of the pile.

"Other clues may lie in the home," he says. "Many more families live
in poverty in the UK than in the rest of the European Union and rates
have increased markedly in the past 20 years." There is a connection,
he says, between poverty and risky behaviour such as early unprotected
sex and drug-taking.

"Another clue", he adds, "could lie in the amount of time families
spend together. British parents work the longest hours in Europe."