STIQ Day has been launched to get people thinking about their sexual health and encourage more people to get regular sexual health checks. No one likes to think they’ve caught a sexually transmitted infection (STI) but without a test you just can’t be sure.
This year STIQ Day takes place on 14th January, a date chosen because many common STIs such as Chlamydia can take two weeks to be detectable. If your festive season included unprotected sex then you should be thinking about getting tested now. Also with just one month to go before Valentine’s Day anyone hoping to enjoy the celebrations to the full should do so knowing that they are infection free and will not be putting someone else’s sexual health in danger.
More and more people in the UK are catching STIs and each year the infection rate is rising. Regardless of how old you are, if you’re gay or straight, if you’ve had one partner or 100 – just one unprotected sexual encounter could have put you at risk of catching an STI.
Even if you feel perfectly healthy you could still be carrying something. Often getting routinely tested is the only way that people can detect an infection – and the earlier they are tested and treated, the less chance there is of long-term damage being caused.
Getting a sexual health check is easy and shouldn’t be embarrassing or shameful; sex is a normal part of adult life so sexual health checks should be to. It’s a quick, simple process that not only puts your mind at rest but could protect your fertility or even save your life – or that of your partner
So use STIQ Day to get smart about your sexual health