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STI test

Check out your sexual health status

Local LGBTQ+ voices have echoed advice by Brighton Professor Nigel Sherriff for people to check out their sexual health status

National STiQ Day is taking place on 14 January and was first launched to get people thinking more about their sexual health and to encourage regular sexual health checks. Taking place on the 14 January this is a reminder of the fact that many STIs take two weeks to become symptomatic – which means that anyone who caught an STI at New Year is likely to start feeling the effects this weekend.

Nigel Sherriff, Professor of Public Health and Public Promotion at the University, is quoted in G Scene magazine as saying: “No one likes to think they’ve caught a sexually transmitted infection but without a test you just can’t be sure. The date of STiQ Day was chosen because many common STIs, like chlamydia, can take two weeks to be detectable. So, if your festive season included unprotected sex then you should be thinking about getting tested now.”

Patt Wrangles, Head of Student Wellbeing Services, stresses the importance of students taking care of their sexual health. “It is incredibly important that all students taking part in sexual activity do so safely,” he said. “Our website has advice on how to access contraception and sexual health check-ups, and under-25s are eligible for free condoms through the C-Card Scheme in Brighton & Hove and Eastbourne.”

“It is also important for students to remember that even if they are asymptomatic they may still be infectious. If they think they might have been exposed to an STI it is therefore vital that they get tested.”

Everyone has a right to be treated with dignity and respect and the University takes a zero-tolerance approach towards anything that contradicts those values – it is #NeverOK. If you have experienced any non-consensual sexual activity, or experienced any form of coercion, harassment, violence or abuse, we encourage you to disclose the incident and get support from one of our trained advisors here.

healthLGBTQservicesSTI

Katy Croft • 13 January 2023


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